A quality manual for the clinical laboratory including the elements of a quality system. Proposed guidelines

Development of quality manuals is a means for the promotion of quality in clinical laboratories by describing the total quality system. It also provides opportunity of checking whether the quality system is implemented in reality and demonstrates to the hospital administration and the clinicians that the laboratory is committed to quality. The intention of these guidelines is to describe the elements of the quality system for a large clinical laboratory, and to present such a system in the form of a quality manual. The proposed guidelines comply, where relevant, with ISO/IEC guide 25 'General requirements for the technical competence of testing laboratories' and EN 45001 'General criteria for the operation of testing laboratories'. The document may be used as an aid for laboratories wishing to be accredited according to EN 45001, or intending to apply for formal certification of their quality systems, according to ISO 9001 'Quality systems--Model for quality assurance in design/development, production, installation, and servicing' utilizing ISO 9004 'Quality management and quality system elements--guidelines; Part 2 Guidelines for service'. However, information about the minimum requirements for official recognition should be obtained from the particular accreditation or certification body concerned.