...QUALITY ASSURANCE QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM - A collective term which refers to the different methods used to assure reliable test results. - It encompasses comprehensive concepts , including components of Quality Control, which are primarily quantitative and statistical tools, and those aspects of laboratory management that impart perceptions of credibility and medically useful to clinicians. - The goal of Quality Control is to reduce both systematic and random errors. - In Japan, they refer to it as ZERO DEFECT Importance of QC in patient care -It serves as a foundation for a comprehensive program of assuring HIGH-QUALITY PATIENT CARE. -The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) defines Quality Control as a well-defined, organized program designed to enhance patient care through the ongoing objective assessment of important aspects of patient care and the correction of identified problems. Quality Assurance Program A. Pre-analytic al phase Test ordering, specimen collection, specimen transport and processing, patient information system. B. Analytical phase Specimen analysis, use of controls, record keeping C. Post-analytical phase Reporting of results, physician contact, reference ranges Variability (errors) - RANDOM ERRORS – indeterminate errors which are a result of chance and sampling errors. They do not generally affect an entire batch of samples and therefore cannot be detected by...
Words: 615 - Pages: 3
...DRA Assignment 2 – Recreational Properties 1) FRAMING THE DECISION 1.a) Decisions a) He can exercise the option and buy the land. In this case, the possible decisions are: a.1) Sell the land without any development a.2) Develop the land with a development cost of £ 5 million and the sell it for a higher profit b) He can avoid to exercise the option and invest in another investment that will give to him a certain profit. c) Try to negotiate an option extension in order to be able to delay his decisions until the suit is settled and the risk of not getting the lease does not affect his decision anymore. d) For the purpose of this analysis we are assuming that the price of the option will remain constant. Otherwise another possible decision that Anders may make is whether to sell the option to third parties and eventually recover part of his investments. 1.b) Factors of uncertainty a) Legal suit outcome: the payoff of his decision is subject to the outcome of the lawsuit that may not allow the development of land parcels on East side of White Mountain. b) Reputation: the success of his initiative and the consequent return on his investment are conditioned by the popularity that the location will have, as for instance the quality of the snow and of the ski runs. Due to their nature, these are unpredictable factors that Anders cannot control. 1.c) Objective The objective of Recreational Properties is to maximise the payoff coming from this investment as well as minimising...
Words: 1914 - Pages: 8
...“You are a department manager in a mid-sized company that provides technology support services. You have ten employees who are required to maintain a high level of technical expertise and deliver excellent customer service. One of your employees, who has been with the company for two years, is performing at a substandard level and you have received numerous complaints from customers and coworkers. In addition, this employee has displayed confrontational behavior which has created a hostile environment. You must now meet with this employee and deliver an ultimatum regarding the need for immediate improvement or dismissal.” Having confrontation and tension at the workplace is counterproductive in most cases. Some professions strive on confrontation (i.e. lawyers and the courtroom) but even these professions have strict guidelines to keep conduct orderly. Delivering an ultimatum is not an easy task, when things get too heated to continue they sometimes are ineffective. Giving the employee a chance to discuss the issues and a chance to improve is fair, unless of course there is criminal behavior involved. In this case, this is not listed. There are many factors that are not given in the example above that leave me to question if the ultimatum should be given. For one, is the employee a “marginalized” one? Is there hostility due to “rejection or lack of conditional acceptance of the reference group” or is there a case of whistle blowing from the peer group (Schockley-Zalabak...
Words: 544 - Pages: 3
...Experimentation Analog Circuit The following figures are screenshots of the oscilloscope after each stage. Voltage Follower Grounded Not Grounded Differentiator Not Grounded Grounded Low pass Filter, f0 = 150Hz Grounded Not Grounded High pass Filter, f0 = 0.5Hz Grounded Not Grounded N Muscles repeatedly flexing (no high pass filter) Muscles repeatedly flexing (after high pass filter) 60Hz Notch Filter Grounded Not Grounded Final ECG Output (after amplifier) Grounded Not Grounded The following figure was captured using LabVIEW. Top Waveform (White) = Output Middle Waveform (Red) = After differential amplifier, before any filtering Last Waveform (Green) = Buzzer Output, R wave detected This output demonstrates that our filters are working well enough to detect Rwaves. Looking at the 4th R-wave in the red waveform, which is before any filtering, we see that the EMG noise is at the same magnitude as the R-wave. However, our buzzer still detected an R-wave. The noise was reduced in such that the R-wave is not clearly above the noise. We are also able to see 60Hz noise filtered out in the output. Digital Circuit Timer Interrupt at 250Hz (Sampling Rate) Verified by checking on the oscilloscope to see a spike every 4ms (250Hz) Analog-to-Digital Converter We inputted the ECG waveform to the microcontroller ADC and graphed the output values. The graph resembles an ECG waveform. This means the ADC was...
Words: 1975 - Pages: 8
...can be diagnosed. This is due to the lack of effective screening methods to detect the tumor or cyst in its earliest curable stages. The ability to successfully detect pancreatic cancer is highly dependent on an effective screening method with high sensitivity and specificity that can detect the tumor or cyst early in its development. In the United States, many of the current methods are too costly, too invasive, unavailable for widespread use, and lack high sensitivity and specificity. There is a strong need to find a more promising screening method that is inexpensive, noninvasive, available for widespread use, and maintains high sensitivity and specificity. The immediate objective of this research project was to evaluate the current screening methods and make a recommendation for a future screening strategy with strong potential to detect the cancer in its earliest stages while improving the sensitivity and maintaining high specificity. The first step in the investigation process was to identify a high-risk population for pancreatic cancer. Then, current screening methods were evaluated based on their ability to detect pancreatic cancer among the defined high-risk population and their cost, invasiveness, availability, sensitivity and specificity. After determining the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as the best current screening method, further research indicated that plasma microRNA in combination with the biomarker CA 19-9 has potential to detect pancreatic...
Words: 4678 - Pages: 19
...Confidentiality and Non-disclosure Agreement between ______________________________ (herinafter referred to as “X”) Registration number: ______________________ Adress: and (herinafter referred to as “ The Client”) Registration number/ ID number: Address: WHEREAS the parties are discussing certain matters which require each party to disclose certain proprietary, secret or confidential information (“the information”) to the other party; AND WHEREAS the parties acknowledge that the information exchanged between them must be kept confidential and have therefore agreed to enter into this confidentiality; NOW THEREFORE the parties acknowledge, agree and undertake as follows: Whereas, 'The Client’ and 'X’ has certain confidential information which it desires to disclose confidentially to each other relating to client information provided by him including but not limited to trade secrets and proprietary information pertaining to finances, marketing plans and techniques, forecasts, operational structures and methods, pricing policies, customer lists and other proprietary, private confidential business matters, all hereinafter referred to as the INFORMATION, and both parties hereby agree that this two way exchange is for the sole purpose of evaluating potential business opportunities involving each party or one or more subsidiaries of each party. The parties agree as follows: 1. Information: Each under...
Words: 1471 - Pages: 6
...1) The DoD Information Assurance Certification and Accreditation Process (DIACAP) is the United States Department of Defense (DoD) process to ensure that risk management is applied on Information Systems from an enterprise view. DIACAP is a DoD-wide standard set of activities, tasks and process for the certification and accreditation of a DoD information system that will maintain the Information Assurance posture throughout the system's life cycle. The Department of Defense Information Technology Security Certification and Accreditation Process (DITSCAP) is a process defined by the United States Department of Defense (DOD) for managing risk. DoD Instruction (DODI) 5200.40 establishes a standard DOD-wide process with a set of activities, general tasks and a management structure to certify and accredit an Automated Information System (AIS) that will maintain the Information Assurance (IA) posture of the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII) throughout the system's life cycle. DITSCAP applies to the acquisition, operation and sustainment of any DOD system that collects, stores, transmits, or processes unclassified or classified information since December 1997. 2) The Director of Central Intelligence Directive (DCID) 6/3 establishes the security policy and procedures for storing, processing, and communicating classified intelligence data in information systems. To achieve compliance with DCID 6/3, agencies must ensure that information is safeguarded at all times and that...
Words: 360 - Pages: 2
...NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT This Nondisclosure Agreement (this "Agreement") is made effective as of ________________ (the "Effective Date"), by and between Mobile Photo Booth, LLC (the "Owner"), of PO Box 22408, Eagan, Minnesota 55122, and ___________________________________ (the "Recipient"), of _________________________, _________________________, _________________________ __________. The Owner is Renting and Providing Photo Booth Services. The Recipient is Providing Contracting Services to Mobile Photo Booth, LLC. Information will be disclosed to the Recipient ___________________________________________________. The Owner has requested that the Recipient will protect the confidential material and information which may be disclosed between the Owner and the Recipient. Therefore, the parties agree as follows. 1. Confidential Information. The term "Confidential Information" means any information or material which is proprietary to the Owner, whether or not owned or developed by the Owner, which is not generally known other than by the Owner, and which the Recipient may obtain through any direct or indirect contact with the Owner. a) "Confidential Information" includes without limitation: - business records and plans - financial statements - customer lists and records - trade secrets - technical information - products - inventions - product design information - copyrights and other intellectual property and other proprietary information. b. "Confidential...
Words: 1048 - Pages: 5
...“One world, one way, one way, many paths.” Well this saying cannot be defined any better in the world of cultural sensitivity. With business activities going global, the organizations are riding the waves of culture more than ever, giving cultural sensitivity an important place in dealings. “Kiss, Bow or Shake Hands?” the international business best seller by Terri Morrison, Wayne A. Conway suggests on how to maintain international relations in different business environment. Cultural sensitivity has taken toll taking business dealings to a whole professional level. Cultural sensitivity means being aware that cultural differences and similarities exist and have an effect on values, learning and behaviour (Stafford). In many cultures establishing relationships is very important while doing business together.” Pulling the plug too soon” as described in an article by Huffington post, people who tend to think that having a basic ‘business goal’ doesn’t work enough and you have to actually work and put your time and effort into it and waiting patiently for the results. Everyone understands that the basic problem of communication is caused by lack of common language. Even when you’re all speaking ‘English’, we don’t seem to understand the reality is that different assumptions based on different cultures can be the main barrier to effective communication. Cultures affect our own attitudes and expectations let alone others. Until recently large firms that operate internationally...
Words: 914 - Pages: 4
...cancer that is detected early — when it's still confined to the prostate gland — has a better chance of successful treatment. One of the biggest and prevalent issues with prostate cancer is the rates of sensitivity and specificity. Sensitivity and specificity measure the number of false positives and false negatives, and are useful in evaluating the effectiveness of screening methods. Sensitivity is the number of true positive results divided by the sum of the true positive results and false negative results. Specificity is the number of true negative results divided by the sum of the true negative results and false positive results. The article explains that the PSA test and Digital Rectal Examination (DRE) are the most widely used forms of prostate cancer screening. The PSA test is simply a blood test. Even though the PSA is widely available to the general population it’s the sensitivity is 34.9% and the specificity is 63.1% which is not good at all. The DRE test is available by appointment in a doctor's office; there is discomfort for the patient and a risk of slight bleeding. The sensitivity is 27.1% and the specificity is 49.0%, which is worse than the PSA test. To help ensure that the readings will be more reliable most doctors use the two tests together, the sensitivity remains low at 38.0%, and the specificity is 87.9%. Next the article talk about future tests and...
Words: 617 - Pages: 3
...PERCENTAGES: THE MOST USEFUL STATISTICS EVER INVENTED Thomas R. Knapp © 2010 "Eighty percent of success is showing up." - Woody Allen “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.” - Yogi Berra "Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." - Thomas Edison Preface You know what a percentage is. 2 out of 4 is 50%. 3 is 25% of 12. Etc. But do you know enough about percentages? Is a percentage the same thing as a fraction or a proportion? Should we take the difference between two percentages or their ratio? If their ratio, which percentage goes in the numerator and which goes in the denominator? Does it matter? What do we mean by something being statistically significant at the 5% level? What is a 95% confidence interval? Those questions, and much more, are what this book is all about. In his fine article regarding nominal and ordinal bivariate statistics, Buchanan (1974) provided several criteria for a good statistic, and concluded: “The percentage is the most useful statistic ever invented…” (p. 629). I agree, and thus my choice for the title of this book. In the ten chapters that follow, I hope to convince you of the defensibility of that claim. The first chapter is on basic concepts (what a percentage is, how it differs from a fraction and a proportion, what sorts of percentage calculations are useful in statistics...
Words: 24786 - Pages: 100
...revenues c. Breakeven point=(10,000+8,000)/(30-24) =3,000 batteries d. Breakeven point=(9,000+7,900)/(33-20) =1,300 batteries 7. Sensitivity analysis is a “what-if” technique managers use to examine how an outcome will change if the original predicted data are not achieved or if an underlying assumption changes. The analysis answers questions such as “What will operating income be if the quantity of units sold decreases by 5% from the original prediction?” and “What will operating income be if variable cost per unit increases by 10%?” This helps visualize the possible outcomes that might occur before the company commits to funding a project. For example, companies such as Boeing and Airbus use CVP analysis to evaluate how many airplanes they need to sell in order to recover the multibillion-dollar costs of designing and developing new ones. The managers then do a sensitivity analysis to test how sensitive their conclusions are to different assumptions, such as the size of the market for the airplane, its selling price, and the market share they think it can capture. Electronic spreadsheets, such as Excel, enable managers to systematically and efficiently conduct CVP-based sensitivity analyses and to examine the effect and interaction of changes in selling price, variable cost per unit, and fixed costs on target operating income. Sensitivity analysis gives managers a good feel for a decision’s risks. It is a simple approach to recognizing uncertainty, which is the possibility...
Words: 501 - Pages: 3
...space at a local park for their event. An additional charge, one of the pavilions that will provide shelter is available. If the weather is bad and the shelter is not rented, then the event may need to be canceled and family members will have spent the money for travel and preparation needlessly. Should the family spend the extra money to rent the shelter, even though it may not be needed? Sensitivity Analysis In the Smith reunion scenario, the dependent variable is the rented of the pavilion while the independent variable is the weather conditions. Sensitivity analysis is a technique that determines how different values of an independent variable will determine a particular dependent variable under a given set of assumptions (Pannell, 1997). One of the uses for sensitivity analysis is assessing the “riskiness” of a strategy or scenario in order to make a decision by identifying key values. Its purpose is to minimize variable (stricture) number calibration and determine what parameters will have the greatest impact on simulation precision. One Parameter Analysis A one-way sensitivity analysis evaluates the changes the impacts the results of a situation by identifying the key drivers (Taylor, 2009). On the day of the Smith family reunion, weather conditions are the determining factors as to rent shelter for that day. This decision making progress involves identifying key values of a possible weather condition, cool or rainy, establishes thresholds or break-even values...
Words: 559 - Pages: 3
...Screening of Diseases Answer these questions: What would be the impact on this test's sensitivity if you moved the cutoff for a positive result from A to B? What about specificity? What would happen to sensitivity and specificity if you moved the cutoff from A to C? Where would you put the cutoff for this test? What is the relationship between sensitivity and specificity for any given test? With the expanding knowledge concerning diseases and the further development of technology in diagnostics, screening has become a method in improving the state of public health through its potential for disease prevention. However, people may have misconceptions about this process because they were inadequately informed. This attempts to provide an understanding about the many aspects of screening. It is concerned with how screening is defined, its limitations and advantages, the issues involved and conditions where it is acceptable and not acceptable. Without screening, diagnosis of disease only occurs after symptoms develop. However, disease frequently begins long before symptoms occur, and even in the absence of symptoms there may be a point at which the disease could be detected by a screening test. According to the reading and establishing a relationship with this case, talking about sensitivity is the percentage of the results that will be positive when HIV is present. On the same way talking about specificity is the percentage of the results that will be negative...
Words: 1143 - Pages: 5
...regular screening.3 Hispanic women in this region have one of the highest cervical cancer mortality rates in the nation.4 Previous studies have identified barriers to screening in this minority population such as lack of access to healthcare, fear of pain during the gynecological exam and embarrassment.5 Persistent infection with oncogenic Human Papillomavirus (HPV) types is necessary for developing cervical cancer.6 Thus, HPV testing of women 30 – 65 years of age has been added to the cervical cancer screening guidelines in addition to Pap/cytology (co-testing).2 Self-sampling is a novel approach to detect HPV infection, it allows women to collect their own cervical specimen with a brush in the clinic or in their own homes.7 It has high sensitivity (74%) and specificity (88%) compared to physician collected samples.8-13 Women that deem it acceptable cite reasons such as privacy, costs, and lack of need for an office visit.13-21 However, Pap/cytology has been preferred over self-sampling among some groups because of low confidence in self-sampling accuracy and uncertainty over performing it correctly.13,17,20,22,23 Self-sampling has been least likely to be preferred by Hispanic women and those with lower educational levels.13,17 Interventions using a community health worker for group or one-to-one education have effectively increased Pap/cytology uptake among Hispanic women.24-26 However, there are no studies assessing the effects of a culturally sensitive educational intervention...
Words: 791 - Pages: 4
