Quality Control & Process Improvement Flashcards
7 cards from real ABFM practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Quality Control & Process Improvement flashcards as text
A forensic laboratory's turnaround time (TAT) for toxicology cases has been increasing. Which lean tool would BEST help identify where delays are occurring in the workflow?
Answer: Value stream mapping
Value stream mapping visually depicts each step and its associated time in a process, making bottlenecks and non-value-added delays immediately visible.
The term 'uncertainty of measurement' in forensic laboratory reports refers to:
Answer: A parameter characterizing the dispersion of values attributable to the measurand
Measurement uncertainty quantifies the range within which the true value of the measurand is estimated to lie with stated confidence.
Which QC strategy involves testing patient samples in duplicate and flagging results when the two values differ by more than a defined limit?
Answer: Duplicate analysis rule
Duplicate analysis compares replicate measurements of the same sample; discordant duplicates indicate random error or specimen heterogeneity.
In the context of forensic laboratory quality management, 'traceability' of measurement results means:
Answer: Linking a measurement result to a reference standard through an unbroken chain of calibrations
Metrological traceability establishes an unbroken chain of comparisons from the result back to a national or international measurement standard.
A process capability index (Cpk) of 0.8 for a forensic blood stain collection kit dimension indicates:
Answer: The process produces defects because it is not meeting specification limits adequately
A Cpk below 1.0 indicates the process is incapable of consistently meeting specifications, generating defects outside tolerance limits.
Which accreditation standard specifically governs the competence of testing and calibration laboratories, including forensic laboratories?
Answer: ISO/IEC 17025:2017
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 is the international standard establishing general requirements for the competence, impartiality, and consistent operation of testing and calibration laboratories.
A forensic laboratory implements mistake-proofing on its evidence labeling process so that a barcode scanner rejects any label lacking a case number. This is an example of:
Answer: Poka-yoke (error proofing)
Poka-yoke devices or methods prevent errors from occurring or make defects immediately detectable, eliminating reliance on human vigilance alone.