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Quality assurance. Sisyphean or sibylline?
1Division of Pathology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston.
Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
|November 1, 1990
Summary
Quality control and assurance in pathology are long-standing principles, not new concepts. Current trends risk creating an expensive, separate process that may not be effectively integrated.
Area of Science:
- Pathology
- Laboratory Medicine
- Quality Management
Background:
- Quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) are integral to anatomic and clinical pathology.
- Established programs, like those from the College of American Pathologists, have existed for decades.
- Recent emphasis on QC/QA principles has led to new initiatives.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the current landscape of quality control and assurance in pathology.
- To evaluate the potential for pathology to become entangled in a costly, parallel QC/QA process.
- To discuss the long-term implications of this trend.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of historical and current QC/QA practices in pathology.
- Analysis of the evolution of QC/QA principles in laboratory medicine.
- Conceptual analysis of the integration versus parallel processing of QC/QA.
Main Results:
- QC/QA principles have been foundational in pathology for many years.
- A burgeoning industry around QC/QA has emerged.
- Pathology faces the risk of adopting an expensive, non-integral QC/QA system.
Conclusions:
- The "rediscovery" of QC/QA principles may lead to inefficient and costly practices.
- Pathology must ensure QC/QA processes are integral, not parallel, to existing workflows.
- Careful consideration is needed to avoid a Sisyphean effort in quality management.