Quality indicators and specifications for strategic and support processes in laboratory medicine

Background: This work is the second part of a study regarding indicators and quality specifications for the non-analytical processes in laboratory medicine. Five primary care and five hospital laboratories agreed on the indicators for two strategic processes (quality planning and project development) and various support processes (client relationships, instrument and infrastructure maintenance, safety and risk prevention, purchases and storage, personnel training). Methods: In the majority of cases, the median values recorded over 1 year is considered to be the state-of-the-art in our setting and proposed as the quality specification for the indicators stated. Values have been stratified according to primary care and hospital laboratory for referred tests and group of personnel for training. In some cases, the specifications have been set equal to zero events, such as serious incidents in the infrastructure maintenance process and number of work accidents in the safety and risk prevention process. Results and conclusions: In light of this study, an effort is needed to optimize decisions regarding corrective actions and to move from a subjective individual criterion to systematic and comparative management. This preliminary study provides a comprehensive vision of a subject that could motivate further research and advances in the quality of laboratory services.