Educators are placing a greater emphasis on the development of cooperative laboratory experiences that supplement the traditional lecture format. The new laboratory materials should encourage active learning, problem-solving, and inquiry-based approaches. To address these goals, we developed a laboratory exercise designed to introduce students to the hemodynamic variables (heart rate, ...

A laboratory exercise is described in which students in a neuroscience, psychobiology, or similar laboratory course record the electromyogram (EMG) from themselves, using surface electrodes (placed on the skin). This exercise is intended to give students a firsthand demonstration that electrical activity is produced within them and to allow the ...

We have assembled a system using a personal computer workstation equipped with standard office software, an audio system, speech recognition software and an inexpensive radio-based wireless microphone that permits laboratory workers to enter or modify data while performing other work. Speech recognition permits users to enter data while their hands ...

STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: An inordinate amount of time is often required to adjust the occlusion of a newly fabricated crown. PURPOSE: This study determined whether the procedure of "cast adjustment" significantly decreases the time necessary to clinically adjust the occlusion of a newly fabricated crown. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-eight crowns ...

OBJECTIVE: To survey the perceptions and attitudes of Medical Laboratory Scientific Officer (MLSO) staff in Pathology to explain difficulties in recruitment and retention and inform attempts to solve the difficulties. DESIGN: Questionnaire to a defined group of MLSOs. SETTING: The Laboratory Medicine Directorate, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary. SUBJECTS: MLSO1 and MLSO2 ...

Kaiser Permanente's Northern California Regional Laboratory recently achieved an important milestone in its continuous quality improvement project by automating time-consuming and labor-intensive tasks involved in preanalytical and postanalytical sample processing. The new task-targeted automation system, the most sophisticated of its kind in the world, consists of three key components: the ...

Using a total of eight pork loins representing DFD (dark, firm, and dry) and PSE (pale, soft, and exudative) conditions, 35 students conducted a series of objective and subjective measurements to demonstrate extremes in meat quality in a single 2-h laboratory. Students learned to objectively assess appearance, water-holding and water-binding ...

The aims of this study were to optimize interlaboratory standardization of echocardiographic reporting (qualitative terms and quantitative parameters) and to evaluate the feasibility and clinical and research impact of collecting echocardiographic data in a standard computerized format over a geographical territory. In April 1992, a computer program of echocardiogram archiving ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the emergence of laboratory personnel at the technician and assistant levels and discuss educational issues that arose between 1962 and 1977. DESIGN: A survey of literature on the history of clinical laboratory science (CLS) was conducted. References consulted include various books and professional journals. CONCLUSION: Advances in ...

In 1958, the American Association of Blood Banks introduced the first edition of Standards for Blood Banks and Transfusion Services. That same year, the association implemented the Inspection and Accreditation Program. This program served the association well for 40 years; however, factors such as the application of Current Good Manufacturing ...

The College of American Pathologists Laboratory Accreditation Program expects a participant laboratory or laboratory section to be able to demonstrate that it is in compliance with the Standards for Laboratory Accreditation. The program expects laboratories to demonstrate that they are continually taking steps to identify and correct deficient areas and ...

The white rat offers a valuable teaching model to demonstrate the in situ anatomy, homeostatic control, and function of the mammalian renal system. Students in the upper-level physiology class at Dickinson College are responsible for formulating a set of testable hypotheses as to the possible compensatory mechanisms that will result ...

Decreasing revenues from price controls in government programs and discounted fees and below-cost capitation contracts from private insurance companies have made cost control the main factor in laboratory decisions. Consolidation, which is already extensive in Independent Laboratories, is now coming to hospital laboratories. An Integrated Regional Laboratory is an effective ...

The management of supplies, purchase orders, and equipment is of critical importance to the operation of the clinical laboratory. The InvMan software program has reduced hands-on time for performing the counting of inventory and the time required to generate purchase orders. These changes save the laboratory about $11,170 per year ...

PsychExps (http:/(/)www.olemiss.edu/PsychExps) is an interactive on-line psychology laboratory designed to facilitate teaching and conducting research over the Internet. With the increased use of the Web among students and the development of technology enabling the deployment of experiments via the Internet, a laboratory such as PsychExps appears to offer numerous advantages ...

Numerically small disciplines can be jeopardized by geographic difficulties, if student populations at universities are small and distances between them large. This problem could be addressed, if teaching resources could be shared among several universities and students in several locations could be taught simultaneously. We present the results of a ...

The objective structured practical examination (OSPE) is a useful evaluation method for testing psychomotor skills. Students for the degree in medical laboratory technology require to learn certain skills which will make them useful in any research or teaching laboratory in experimental pharmacology. We outline an OSPE which can be used ...

The authors describe the CityLab program, which has the goal of providing equal educational opportunities in biotechnology and medical sciences for all students in the greater Boston area in grades seven through 12, particularly students from groups traditionally underrepresented in science. Since 1992, more than 16,000 students and 1,200 teachers ...

alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency is an inherited condition characterized by low serum levels of AAT and an increased risk of developing pulmonary emphysema. The disease occurs mainly in Caucasians, but Southern Europe, including Italy, is considered a low prevalence area. We developed a national program in Italy in order to ...

The present study attempted to design and evaluate a small portable electromyogram (EMG) amplifier that can output enhanced EMG and its root mean square (RMS) value. The production and design were of a laboratory scale without any special or high cost circuit construction. The designed amplifier was actually innovated according ...

BACKGROUND: The Laboratory Proficiency Testing Program (LPTP) assesses the analytical performance of all licensed laboratories in Ontario. The LPTP Enzymes, Cardiac Markers, and Lipids Committee conducted a "Patterns of Practice" survey to assess the in-house quality control (QC) practices of laboratories in Ontario using cholesterol as the QC paradigm. DESIGN ...

The voluntary compliance guidance for third-party billing companies released by the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) in December 1998, like the OIG's previously released guidance directed at hospitals, home health agencies, and clinical laboratories, identifies seven minimum elements for an effective corporate compliance program: written compliance policies, designation of ...

OBJECTIVE: To provide a current description of competent clinical laboratory scientists (CLSs) that can be used as a guide for educators, practitioners, and students. DESIGN: A survey of clinical laboratory science (CLS) practitioners was developed to assess current work settings and important competencies in those settings. The survey also addressed ...

A Thailand quality assessment program called "The External Quality Assessment in Clinical Chemistry, EQAC" was found in 1986. Ablind lyophilized control serum is monthly-cycle distributed to the participants and the returned test-report values are evaluated by a computed program. Evaluated report Variance Index Scores (VIS) and grades of test and ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the use and effect of a computer-based histology atlas during required laboratory sessions in a medical school histology course. DESIGN: Ethnographic observation of students' interactions in a factorial, controlled setting. MEASUREMENTS: Ethnographer's observations; student and instructor self-report survey after each laboratory session with items rated from 1 ...

Because of the difficulty of' establishing objective measures of laboratory rodents' psychological well-being, developing environmental enrichment programs that are actually beneficial to rodents destined to participate in laboratory research is particularly challenging. Many studies of effects of environmental complexity, social housing, and increases in cage size suggest that professional judgments ...

An activity supportive of the MOH QA Programme, the National EQAS for clinical chemistry monitors for analytical performance in core routine biochemical testing by the pathology laboratories, with unsatisfactory performance scores serving to alert against deficiencies or problems and the scores in subsequent challenges providing the feedback of effectiveness of ...

This paper describes the general design and main results of the Italian proficiency testing program for the analysis of psychoactive substances in urine, a long-term initiative created in 1995 on an educational basis and characterized by an innovative internet-based service for data exchange between laboratories and the organizing body. Batches ...

The Korean External Quality Assurance Scheme (KEQAS) was set up by a voluntary organization, the Korean Society of Quality Control in Clinical Pathology (KSQC) in 1976. The KSQC was reorganized as the Korean Association of Quality Assurance for Clinical Laboratories (KAQACL) in 1991. The KAQACL is a government authorized organization. ...

The Laboratory Survey Committee of the Society for Cardiac Angiography and Interventions was created as a resource for physicians and administrators to provide comprehensive independent outside review services for cardiac catheterization laboratories. Since 1989, when the committee began its work, surveys of 23 catheterization laboratories have been completed. Our review ...

The ISO 9000 Standards series were developed to provide the international manufacturing industry with a framework to ensure purchased products meet quality criteria. Section 4 of ISO 9001, Quality System Model for Quality Assurance in Design, Development, Production, Installation and Servicing, contains 20 aspects of a quality system that must ...

The final act of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, 1994, contains the Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, which aims to reduce the negative effects of health barriers on international trade to a minimum. Therefore, the Office International des Epizooties (OIE) ...

The ready availability of inexpensive desk-top computers with enormous disk storage has made the practicality of computer assisted medical interpretive software a reality. There seems little question that these programs could be of enormous help to physicians. However, there are daunting problems to their creation, including the lack of standards ...

OBJECTIVE: To report the results of the second phase of a pilot study of an Italian national external quality evaluation program (EQA) aimed at assessing whether participation in the first phase had increased the reliability and accuracy of diagnoses and to what extent. STUDY DESIGN: In the second phase, two ...

In this article, we offer practical guidelines for developing an effective decentralized laboratory testing (DLT) program. Based on more than 10 years of experience with a DLT program for bedside blood glucose monitoring, we have identified eight essential steps in this process, including: developing an effective multidisciplinary DLT committee that ...

"Job security" is an oxymoron in today's environment of downsizing, mergers, and acquisitions. Workers find themselves living by new rules in the workplace that they may not understand. How do we cope? It is the leader's charge to take advantage of this chaos and create conditions under which his or ...

The objective of the Canadian Quality Assurance Program (CQAP) is to provide the most reproducible and accurate T-cell subset enumeration for individuals living with HIV who are enrolled in the Canadian Clinical Trial Network for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Therapies (abbreviated as CTN). The ...

On the Thai-Myanmar border, where multidrug resistance to anti-malaria medications is a major problem, a quality control program for diagnostic laboratories has been set up. This study examines the "passive" screening performed in 10 laboratories. Monthly evaluation of the quality of thick and thin smear practice, Giemsa staining and microscopy ...

Surveys of the dental profession and dental laboratories show that up to 60% of cases received by laboratories have little or no input from dentists into the design of their patients' removable partial dentures (RPD). Thus, there is a clear mandate for dental schools to teach RPD design in new ...

We have developed a two-dimensional maximum entropy spectrum reconstruction program designed to run in parallel on workstation clusters. Test reconstructions of planes extracted from a three-dimensional NMR data set indicate that the parallel speedup is nearly equal to the number of processors provided that the individual processors have comparable performance ...

Information on laboratory organisational structure and roles was gathered from twenty-four national veterinary diagnostic laboratories around the world. This information was used to develop an overview of the organisation and roles of the national veterinary diagnostic laboratory. In addition, the national diagnostic laboratory for the United States of America (the ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the 'real' and 'ideal' clinical laboratory scientist according to the perceptions of pathologists, clinical laboratory scientists, and the public during the early years of the profession (1918 to 1942). DESIGN: A survey of literature on the history of clinical laboratory science was conducted. References consulted include various ...

OBJECTIVES: To assess the accuracy of bedside blood glucose monitoring (BGM) in small hospitals, to assess the compliance with which hospital workers performing bedside BGM adhere to quality control (QC) procedures, and to identify those practice characteristics in small hospitals that are associated with better BGM accuracy and with better ...

This final rule responds to selected comments received on a final rule with a comment period implementing the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments of 1988, which was published in the Federal Register on February 28, 1992, in the areas of proficiency testing and inspections for clinical laboratories. In responding to these ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe a clinical laboratory practice simulation experience for clinical laboratory science (CLS) students which was intended to improve the transition from the student laboratory to the clinical environment. SETTING: University of Kentucky Center for Rural Health, a rural health professions education center for a state-assisted institution. PRACTICE DESCRIPTION: ...

Training has been shown to be an important factor in the growth of successful dental laboratories. Many technicians have received extensive laboratory and managerial training in the midst of technician shortages, more sophisticated techniques and products. What can we do to insure the manpower needs of the dental laboratory industry ...

A quality assurance program of the Chagas' disease laboratory network of Argentina has been conducted by the National Reference Center since 1988, with the aim of assessing the reliability of serologic test results. Chagas' disease is endemic in Argentina, but the prevalence of seropositivity for Trypanosoma cruzi among 18- to ...

In the UK, all applicants for licences under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 must receive training in ethical aspects of laboratory animal use. There is, however, considerable uncertainty about the aims, suitable content and most appropriate means of delivery of such training. In this review a series of aims ...

OBJECTIVE: To trace the roots of clinical laboratory science by discussing the development of the role of the "laboratory technician", and describing selected early training programs for clinical laboratory personnel. DESIGN: A survey of literature on the history of clinical laboratory science was conducted. References consulted include various books and ...

Educational activities are a background to research and to a dynamic, developing discipline. The principles now being applied in undergraduate curricula are applicable to teaching and training in laboratory medicine. A fresh look at the education and training and an implementation of new educational techniques is necessary to prepare a ...