Special issue: Quality i laboratory diagnostics: from theory to practice

In to day’s heal th ca re system the pre va len ce of me di cal er ro rs see ms to be hi gh as sta ted by the re po rt of the In sti tu te of Me di ci ne (IOM). An er ror rate of about 10% in cli ni cal me di cal la bo ra to ries has been con sis ten tly re por ted in the li te ra tu re. Mo st of the se er ro rs oc cur in the pre-a na lyti cal phase. Be cau se on ly a sma ll num ber of er ro rs wi ll be seen in the ana lyti cal pha se, it is ve ry li ke ly that the se mig ht be ve ry of ten ig no red. This over view wi ll deal wi th the requi re men ts of qua li ty that is not ba sed on qua li ty con trol sam ple mea su re me nt on ly. The knowled ge of ana lyti cal in ter fe ren ces and cri ti cal sam ple qua li ty wi ll o3 er va luab le so lu tio ns to im pro ve the glo bal qua li ty of the to tal tes ti ng pro ce ss. So me spe cial areas of the ana lyti cal pro ce ss su ch as ca lib ra tion, qua li ty con trol, re fe ren ce in ter val, drug in ter fe ren ce, sta tis ti cal ana lysis, pa rap ro tei ns and vo lu me dis pla ce me nt e3 e ct wi ll be dis cus sed. Wi th so me exam ples from the li te ra tu re and per so nal in ves ti ga tion, the im pa ct of er ro rs in the ana lyti cal pro ce ss wi ll be bet ter un der stood and the exam ples wi ll he lp re du ci ng the num ber of ana lyti cal er ro rs and in ter fe ren ces, so that a mu ch bet ter pa tie nt sa fe ty can be gran ted.