Special Issue on Quality in Cytopathology Laboratories

摘要

Nowadays the examinations performed by clinical laboratories are vital for patient management and subsequent treatment, as they directly influence the care and handling by a percentage as high as 70%. In order to ensure the quality of examination results, various countries are forcing the adoption of quality standards, such as ISO 15189:2012 (ISO, 2014a) or ISO 17025:2005 (ISO, 2014b). The most popular standard is ISO 15189:2012, entitled: "Medical laboratories - Particular requirements for quality and competence". This is especially designed for medical laboratories handling human biological material; it is synthesized of two major components: chapter 4: related to the management requirements and chapter 5: focusing on technical requirements. The application of such standards is now obligatory in several countries, for example in France all medical laboratories are required to adopt ISO 15189:2012 for all the examination types performed by 2016.