Standards Provide a Quality Approach to Blood Gas Analysis
May 2007
Melissa J D ArchangeloBlood gas analysis is a complex field that has a direct impact on patient care in a critical care environment. Healthcare professionals consistently emphasize high-quality results in order to properly treat patients, and recognize the need and usefulness of quality standards. Using a path-of-workflow analysis as part of a larger, comprehensive quality management system (QMS) will go far in standardization and in providing critical procedural support to staff. The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI, formerly NCCLS) provides standards and guidelines to support such quality initiatives, in addition to producing documents that define terminology and discuss performance characteristics from a preanalytical through postanalytical path of workflow. These documents represent the best practices in the field and are created through a unique consensus process involving input from industry, government and the healthcare professions.
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