Quality school: an innovative approach to laboratory quality practices training

The quality management program in the Division of Transfusion Medicine at our institution had evolved to the point that the program generally was perceived to be the sole responsibility of our Quality Unit (which was administratively independent of day-to-day operations). It became clear that this administrative model was counterproductive to our new goal of instilling a responsibility for quality into every work level of our division. Such a culture change requires a considerable, organized educational effort. Quality School was established to meet these particular educational needs. The details of the modular structure of the courses and the initial results of their implementation are described. This Quality School approach was developed specifically for transfusion medicine, but the principles could be applied to any clinical laboratory.