Laboratory Management Flashcards
7 cards from real ABPATH practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Laboratory Management flashcards as text
Which accreditation body offers the deemed-status inspection program most commonly used by U.S. pathology laboratories?
Answer: College of American Pathologists (CAP)
CAP holds CMS deemed status and inspects labs for CLIA compliance through its accreditation program.
The interval between specimen receipt and result reporting is called:
Answer: Turnaround time
Turnaround time (TAT) measures elapsed time from specimen receipt to result availability.
Delta checks are used primarily to detect:
Answer: Significant changes in a patient's result compared to prior results, flagging possible errors
A delta check compares a current result to the patient's previous value to catch specimen mix-ups or errors.
Which document establishes standardized formatting and content for laboratory procedures in the U.S.?
Answer: A CLSI-formatted standard operating procedure
CLSI provides consensus guidelines for writing standardized SOPs used in clinical laboratories.
A critical (panic) value should be:
Answer: Communicated immediately to a responsible caregiver with documented read-back
Critical values require immediate notification with documented read-back to ensure patient safety.
Lean methodology in the laboratory primarily aims to:
Answer: Eliminate waste and improve workflow efficiency
Lean focuses on removing non-value-added steps (waste) to streamline laboratory processes.
Which of the following is an appropriate corrective action after a QC failure?
Answer: Halt reporting, investigate, correct the problem, and re-run QC before resuming
A QC failure requires stopping reporting, investigating the cause, correcting it, and confirming acceptable QC before releasing results.