Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
The National Oil Spill Commission released a preliminary chapter of its report today. This is the commission charged with finding out what went wrong with the Deepwater Horizon / Macondo oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that blew up in 2010 and spilled 4 million barrels of oil and killed 11 workers.
Whenever there are big stories in the media, we like to take a look at them to see if we can learn anything, find any connection between the disaster and our own situation in the medical laboratory community. But from a distance, it's hard to see any similarities between oil rigs and labs, right?
Right?
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Sten Westgard, MS
Is it time for a tighter quality requirement for glucose meters?
Fresh on the heels of Dr. George Klee's review of setting performance specifications, as well as the recent FDA public meeting on glucose meter quality, Dr. Klee and Dr. Brad Karon of the Mayo Clinic and Dr. James C. Boyd of the University of Virginia recently published a study that used simulation modeling to determine performance criteria for glucose meters:
"Glucose Meter Performance Criteria for Tight Glycemic Control Estimated by Simulation Modeling", Brad S Karon, James C. Boy, and George G. Klee, Clinical Chemistry 56:7; 1091-1097 (2010)
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
A recent New York Times Sunday editorial focused on the deplorable state of medical device regulation. We simply can no longer trust FDA clearances, particularly 510ks:
Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
An opportunity to demonstrate your patient impact! If we face the reality that the laboratory future must involve a closer interaction with clinical care and outcomes, here's an award that focuses on that very thing. Demonstrate how your lab results improve care and benefit patients, and your healthcare organization will receive and award from a consortium of AACC, IFCC, HIMSS, Modern Healthcare and more: https://lnkd.in/dGBz5Fq hashtag#Univants hashtag#labfuture
[full disclosure: this award is sponsored in part by Abbott Diagnostics, a company with which Westgard QC has business.]
Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
As several people know, the highlight of the Antwerp Quality in the Spotlight conference is not the Westgard Award, but the "Limerick Challenge" of the evening dinner.
In 2016, there was a scandalous episode of nepotism, which resulted in the winning team containing not only myself ("a" Westgard) but also Jochem Goldschmidt ("a" Goldschmidt, son of the conference organizer). Thus, we received lifetime bans from participating in future Limerick contests. And founds ourselves running the Limerick as Quiz Masters this year.
Since the overall theme of the conference this year was "next generation" - that, too, became the theme of the Limerick contest.
Here myself and Jochem on the right are presenting the prize (a bottle of champagne, to be consumed that evening)
After the jump... the winners and the winning limerick
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS
Remember in 2017 when there were predictions that Theranos wouldn't last out the year?
It appears reports of Theranos' death were greatly exaggerated... or maybe not
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Posted by Sten Westgard, MS [first posted on LinkedIn]
Posted by Sten Westgard, MS