This is a call for action from each of you to sustain a culture of quality; however, we must all speak the same language by defining the terms used in quality. What is culture? What is quality? What is laboratory quality? What is a culture of quality? Culture is an is an expression of the employee’s behavior and the meanings attached to their actions as well as how an organization is viewed or perceived both internally and externally. Quality is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “the degree of excellence”. Laboratory quality is defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as accuracy, reliability, and timeliness of the reported test results. The laboratory results must be as accurate as possible, all aspects of the laboratory operations must be reliable, and reporting must be timely in order to be useful in a clinical or public health setting. The culture of quality is the degree of excellence defining the characteristic features of and associated with the laboratory’s work product.
