title: Accreditation of medical laboratories in Croatia--experiences of the Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital "Merkur", Zagreb.
abstract: Since 2003 when the international norm for implementation of quality management in medical laboratories (EN ISO 15189, Medical laboratories--Particular requirements for quality and competence) was established and accepted, accreditation has become practical, generally accepted method of quality management and confirmation of technical competence of medical laboratories in the whole world. This norm has been translated into Croatian and accepted by the Croatian Institute for Norms as Croatian norm. Accreditation is carried out on voluntary basis by the Croatian Accreditation Agency that has up to now accredited two clinical medical biochemical laboratories in the Republic of Croatia. Advantages of accredited laboratory lie in its documented management system, constant improvement and training, reliability of test results, establishing users' trust in laboratory services, test results comparability and interlaboratory (international) test results acceptance by adopting the concept of metrological traceability in laboratory medicine.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Clinical Chemistry, University Hospital 'Merkur", Zagreb, Croatia. zlata.mestric@zg.t-com.hr
authors.forename: Zlata
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Flegar-Mestrić
authors.forename: Aida
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nazor
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perkov
authors.forename: Branka
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Surina
authors.forename: Mirjana Mariana
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Kardum-Paro
authors.forename: Zoran
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Siftar
authors.forename: Mirjana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sikirica
authors.forename: Ivica
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sokolić
authors.forename: Ivan
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ozvald
authors.forename: Zeljko
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Vidas
mesh_terms: D000068:Accreditation / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D002624:Chemistry, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D017523:Croatia; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007755:Laboratories, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D008485:Medical Audit; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011786:Quality Control