title: Quality in the clinical laboratory--the paradigm shift has arrived.
abstract: Whether we practice laboratory medicine in a physician office laboratory or a university hospital laboratory, we find ourselves in the midst of the new focus on total quality, that of quality management of systems. For many decades, manufacturing has placed an emphasis on not just quality control of a process but quality as an expected outcome of their system. Now is the time for laboratory professionals to focus on the future by beginning to develop systems thinking and pursue quality as an outcome. We may not realize it, but we are in the midst of a shift in our Paradigm of Quality. In his book, From Quality to Business Excellence, Charles G. Cobb, states: "The organization, like the human body, is a system; to make it healthy you must consider the whole as well as the parts. That requires looking at the 'system' from a broad cross-functional perspective, just as in a medical analogy, a general practitioner provides an overall view and integrates a team of other specialists as needed".
mesh_terms: D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D010824:Physicians' Offices; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D014481:United States