COVER STORIES
Our Daily Blood
How Can Labs Tackle Utilization of High-Volume, Low-Cost Tests?
By Bill Malone
Many organizations have found success in controlling physician access to expensive sendout tests. However, high-volume, inexpensive tests can have a greater effect on patient safety and satisfaction. Researchers have found that physicians often order routine tests simply out of habit—but it can be a hard habit to break.
The Fast-Moving Realm of Prenatal Diagnostics
How Long Will Microarrays Reign as the Preferred Method?
By Genna Rollins
Karyotyping for nearly 50 years has been the mainstay of prenatal diagnostics for congenital anomalies, but new research has demonstrated that microarrays have a higher diagnostic yield. Even as microarrays are being adopted in practice, however, noninvasive testing modalities are poised to dominate the prenatal testing market.
SERIES ARTICLE
Total Analytic Error
From Concept to Application
By James O. Westgard, PhD, and Sten A. Westgard, MS
Laboratories are under increased pressure to implement quality systems for testing, but may be perplexed about how to set a quality goal for each test. Using the concept of total analytic error, laboratory professionals can develop useful metrics to both assess assay quality and set quality goals.
NEWS BRIEF
Physicians Struggle to Take Full Advantage of EHRs
INSIDE
The Quest to Define Normal Values in Children
Researchers Begin Data Collection for Pediatric Reference Ranges
By Nancy Sasavage, PhD
The first results are starting to emerge from AACC's Pediatric Reference Range Project, an initiative that will help define normal values in healthy newborns and children enrolled in the National Children's Study.
LabsAreVital Renews Efforts to Raise Awareness, Attract Students
At the 2013 AACC Annual Meeting, the LabsAreVital program announced that it has relaunched efforts to promote the importance of laboratory medicine.
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