Managing Clinical Laboratories: Monitor and Control Lab Errors to improve Lab Performance

Use of clinical laboratory test results in diagnostic deci¬sion making has become an integral part of clinical medicine. More than 60-70% of the most important decisions on admission, discharge, and medication are based on laboratory test results. With this high degree of influence, the reliability of laboratory testing and reporting is of utmost importance. Even though automation, standardization and technological advances have significantly improved the analytical reliability of laboratory tests, lab errors still do occur in the pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical processes of the total testing process. It is the responsibility of the lab manager to minimize lab errors occurring at any stage of the testing process. Lab errors lead to sample rejection which in turn calls for repeat sample collection and analysis, and thereby cause delays in reporting the test results. Any delay in test results could have adverse consequences on the patients’ health. Monitoring and control of lab errors is therefore an important challenge in the management of clinical labs so as to produce reliable test results as soon as possible and thereby achieve better lab performance.