Quality Costs in Clinical Laboratory

Introduction: The concept quality cost for all clinical laboratories perform routine and specialized tests of any size and scope has many applications. Familiarity of managers and employees of clinical laboratories with quality cost concept prevent wasted resources and offers laboratory services with high quality to physicians, patients, and other internal and external customers with reasonable cost. Therefore, this research was aimed to explain the concept of quality cost, quality cost terminology, and it’s dimensions, types and applications in clinical laboratory. Methodology: This research was a literature review study condocted using searched articles in several databases and key words such as quality cost, clinical laboratory, internal and external failures without observing the time limit in terms of the years of publication of articles. A total of 122 articles were searched using inclusion and exclusion criterias and finally 36 articles selected for thos study. Findings: Quality cost includes conformance cost and non-conforming event cost use for levels of quality inspectation, prevention of failures. Therefore, it is necessary, new process of work flow, employees’ training, competency testing of employees and manufacturers, customer orientation, and internal and external audits should be observed associated with quality cost. Although, measurement of hidden and clear quality costs to determine the total cost and budgeting in order to improvement of accreditation could be applied. Conlusion: Traditional thinking in the past led to select of quality improvement or costs spent alone by the managers of clinical laboratories. But, in new century, according to new approach, high quality could lead to increased of productivity, decreased of failures, and finally decreased of total quality costs in clinical laboratories.