title: Does external evaluation of laboratories improve patient safety?
abstract: Laboratory accreditation and External Quality Assessment (also called proficiency testing) are mainstays of laboratory quality assessment and performance. Both practices are associated with examples of improved laboratory performance. The relationship between laboratory performance and improved patient safety is more difficult to assess because of the many variables that are involved with patient outcome. Despite this difficulty, the argument to continue external evaluation of laboratories is too compelling to consider the alternative.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Microbiology Proficiency Testing program, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. mnoble@interchange.ubc.ca
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Noble
mesh_terms: D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D010361:Patients; D017751:Safety Management