Medical Laboratory Management Notes
Subject Overview
Medical Laboratory Management is the program's open elective on running a clinical laboratory professionally — ethical principles, Good Laboratory Practice and accreditation, safety awareness (including HIV/
Subject at a glance
3
Units
28
Topics
4
Credits
3
Infographics
Unit-wise Syllabus
3 units — open any unit for detailed topic-wise notes, diagrams and important exam questions
- Ethical principles and standards for clinical laboratory professionals (duty to patient, colleagues, society)
- Good Laboratory Practice and accreditation — aims
- advantages and national/international accrediting agencies
- general safety precautions
- HIV and Hepatitis B/C pre- and post-exposure guidelines
- drug-resistant tuberculosis
NABL (India)
Accredits medical labs
ISO 15189
Quality and competence of medical labs
GLP
Good Laboratory Practice principles
CAP
International accreditation (USA)
Study guide
This unit covers ethics for laboratory professionals (duty to patients, colleagues and society), Good Laboratory Practice and accreditation, general safety, HIV and hepatitis B and C pre- and post-exposure guidelines and drug-resistant tuberculosis. Know what to do immediately after a needle-stick injury.
- Patient management for sample collection
- transportation and preservation
- sample accountability
- factors affecting sample analysis
- reporting results — test report format
- reference ranges
- clinical alerts
- abnormal results
- turnaround time
- referral lab results
- report alteration
- 1
Test request
- 2
Patient preparation and sample collection
- 3
Transport and accessioning
- 4
Analysis
With quality control
- 5
Verification and reporting
Flag critical values
- 6
Interpretation by the clinician
Study guide
You study patient management for sample collection, transport and preservation, sample accountability, factors affecting analysis and reporting: report formats, reference ranges, critical alerts, turnaround time, referral lab results and report alteration. Learn why correct patient identification is the first rule of sampling.
- Quality management systems — quality assurance and control
- internal and external QC
- biomedical waste management
- calibration and validation of clinical laboratory instruments
- laboratory information systems and financial management
- ethics across the pre-examination
- examination
- reporting and records-access stages
- laboratory audit — types
- frequency
- responsibility and documentation
- 1. Plan: Set quality goals
- 2. Do: Run the process
- 3. Check: QC, audits, indicators
- 4. Act: Correct and improve
Study guide
You study quality management systems, biomedical waste, calibration and validation of instruments, laboratory information systems, financial management, ethics across the testing process and laboratory audit. Understand the stages of the total testing process: pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical.
Why Medical Laboratory Management Matters
Management, quality and ethics knowledge is what moves a technologist toward supervisor and laboratory manager roles, and it is central to NABL accreditation, which labs increasingly seek.
How to Prepare for Medical Laboratory Management
- Learn the pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical stages with examples of errors in each.
- Learn the colour-coded biomedical waste system.
- Read about NABL and ISO 15189 accreditation.
Medical Laboratory Management: Frequently Asked Questions
What is Good Laboratory Practice?
Good Laboratory Practice is a set of principles that ensures laboratory work is planned, performed, recorded and reported reliably and safely.
Why is sample identification so important?
Wrong patient identification can lead to wrong results being reported to the wrong patient, with serious consequences.