The Laboratory Accreditation Manual of CAP and CAP’s Safety Regulations

The manual is published by CAP to include comprehensive inspection guidelines[1, 4] and procedures[1, 4], ensuring quality standards are met. It employs the use of checklists[1] aimed at assessing participating lab’s compliance[1] with quality standards[1] and OSHA[2, 3] inspection processes. Eighteen[1] to Twenty[1] checklists consisting thousands[1] of different questions are used for the laboratories’ assessment. The checklist is handed[1] to the laboratories that are applying for accreditation[1] before the inspection[1, 4] process commences.

Some examples of checklists questions are presence of safety[2] policies, procedures for radiation[2] safety, personal protective[2] equipment, assurance of personnel’s vaccination against Hepatitis B[2] and policies regarding recording and documenting[2, 4] injuries[2].

References

1. Judith A. O’Brien. 2000. Common Problems In Clinical Laboratory Management. Surviving Inspections And Attaining Accreditation 11: 251-257.

2. College of American Pathologist and Applicable Clinical Laboratory Safety Regulations PART III. Retrieved 16th June, 2008 from http://www.iupui.edu/~cletcrse/370/cap.htm

3. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Retrieved 16th June, 2008 from http://www.osha.gov/

4. Collage of American Pathologist - CAP Accreditation New Initiatives Frequently Asked Questions. Retrieved 16th June, 2008 from http://capstaging.cap.org/apps/cap.portal?_nfpb=true&cntvwrPtlt_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2FcontentViewer%2Fshow&_windowLabel=cntvwrPtlt&cntvwrPtlt%7BactionForm.contentReference%7D=laboratory_accreditation%2Finitiative_faq.html&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr


Note: Subscript [1] represents reference 1, subscript [2] represents reference 2, subscript [3] represents reference 3 and subscript [4] represents reference 4.


By: Ma Xianwei Benjamin
Class: TG01 Group 2
Word Count: 100 words
Date of submission: 16 June 2008