title: The process of quality assurance. Quality indicators in clinical pathology.
abstract: The process of developing and using indicators of quality performance in laboratory medicine presents significant problems for clinical pathologists. Although there have been many proposed indicators, many fail to provide meaningful information. Four types of quality indicators (data reliability, laboratory management, clinical utilization, and pathologist credentialing) are proposed and examples of their use are given.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Koepke
authors.forename: G G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Klee
mesh_terms: D003406:Credentialing; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010338:Pathology, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care