Long-term alliance for pathology equipment and technology acquisition: a paradigm shift for improved quality and efficiency.

Objective: Personnel costs are the largest single budget item in the clinical laboratory, other major expenses being equipment, analyzers, blood and blood components, and cost of day-to-day consumables. This report describes our experience with developing a long-term relationship with a single major vendor as a paradigm shift from the traditional multiple vendors, multiple contracts, and recurrent extended negotiations. Our objective was to develop a long-term approach for replacement of effete equipment and upgrades to operations in a pathology and laboratory medicine department in collaboration with vendors providing equipment and services.

Within- and between-subject variation in semen parameters in infertile men and normal semen donors.

Objective: To determine within- and between-subject variation of semen parameters in infertile and normal men.

Design: Retrospective analysis of 74 infertile men and 65 normal men producing five or more ejaculates each.

Setting: Clinical andrology laboratory.

[Is the semen analysis a reliable test?].

The semen analysis is one, if not the most, important and widely used clinical laboratory test to evaluate the fertility potential of the male. However, recent reports have suggested that the semen analysis is unreliable. Quality control in the andrology laboratory is often seen as problematic, and many laboratories do not routinely employ QC procedures in semen testing.

How reliable are results from the semen analysis?

Based on the results of a number of studies that have evaluated the reliability of semen analysis testing, it would appear that there is a significant lack of standardization in the performance and reporting of semen analyses among laboratories. A large degree of variation and disagreement exists among different laboratories performing this test, and quality control procedures are not routinely performed in a majority of these laboratories. These observations significantly impact physicians who have to interpret and compare results among laboratories, who receive patients and test results referred from other clinics, or who have to rely on reference or other unknown laboratories for semen analysis testing.

Protecting America's secrets while maintaining academic freedom.

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the subsequent anthrax mail attacks, have had a profound impact on Americans' personal and professional lives and have sparked an active debate regarding the delicate balance between the need for national security and the pursuit of academic freedom. Although academic freedom can be defined in many ways, there are four primary tenets of freedom in an academic environment: freedom to research, freedom to publish, freedom to teach, and freedom to speak. Each of these tenets has come under attack in the wake of September 11, 2001.

Quality control, quality assurance, and proficiency testing in the andrology laboratory.

The primary goal of any andrology laboratory should be the performance of accurate, reproducible, high-quality, and clinically relevant laboratory testing. An underlining objective of such a goal is to better serve the ordering physician, and the patient, by continually improving laboratory performance. Quality control (QC) is the procedure that determines accurate and reproducible testing.

Lack of standardization in performance of the semen analysis among laboratories in the United States.

Objective: To determine the level of standardization in performance of the semen analysis among clinical laboratories in the United States.

Design: A survey was mailed to laboratories requesting information about the laboratory and performance of the semen analysis. Responses were received from 536 laboratories.