Quality: The Next Six Months (Clinical Chemistry Forum‪)‬

INDEXING TERMS: quality control * quality systems This Clinical Chemistry Forum, "Quality for Tomorrow," addressed both the long- and short-term aspects of laboratory quality. Quality in this context is a noun, a concept and a philosophy, and not an adjective. Our challenge was to concentrate on the changing laboratory environment and how quality, in the fundamental sense, will affect clinical laboratory testing in the short term--the next 6 months. This focus can be summarized in the themes of two Forum presenters: (a) "a quality laboratory system (test or method) is characterized by the fundamental quality designed into the product and into the production processes" and (b) "manufacturers seek to produce quality products because ultimately they are easier to support in the field and are more profitable." From these two perspectives came the Forum's conclusion that, as the laboratory's diagnostic products evolve into true quality-based systems, the regulatory burden of the laboratories, the manufacturers, and the regulators will be minimized.