Important Concepts in Quality Control: Standards and Calibrators

What are Standards and Calibrators?

  • Before controls and patient samples can be run, testing instruments must first be calibrated. This requires standards.
  • Standards are materials which contain accurately determined concentrations of an analyte that are used to either confirm a testing method's validity, or to make sure an instrument reads correctly.
  • Calibrating an instrument allows every unknown patient sample or control to be analyzed from a measured starting point.
  • Standards should not be used in place of daily controls because they do not measure or control other variables in the testing process such as operator technique or sample appropriateness.

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