[The 'Anemia in the midwife practice' standard issued by the Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives: a risk of not recognizing iron deficiency and hemoglobinopathy].

The standard entitled 'Anaemia in the midwife practice' issued by the Royal Dutch Organisation of Midwives presumes that the only reason for iron therapy in pregnancy is the prevention of adverse pregnancy outcome due to a low haemoglobin level. Pregnant women are screened for iron deficiency anaemia by means of sequential testing of haemoglobin and mean corpuscular volume (MCV). As a result only 10% of pregnant women will receive iron supplements.

[Iron deficiency in premenopausal women and criteria for iron supplementation].

Currently iron deficiency is treated only when anaemia has developed. In premenopausal women a haemoglobin level lower than 7.5 mmol/l justifies the diagnosis of anaemia.

A microcomputer network for the differential leucocyte count and the registration of red blood cell morphology.

A microcomputer network is described for the scoring of the differential leucocyte count and the registration of white and red cell characteristics. On each terminal keyboard, keys are assigned to white cell fractions (10), erythroblasts (1), red (13) and white (3) cell morphology and for graduations 1+ to 4+. Duplicate counts on different microscopes are collected by the master, averaged and forwarded to a printer.

Analytic precision in clinical chemistry and medical decisions.

A study was undertaken to answer the question: how precise do measurements in clinical chemistry have to be to contribute positively to patient treatment. Sixty-three senior specialists in internal medicine, working in university and teaching hospitals, were interviewed on a number of subjects related to medical decision-making. Hospital laboratories tested samples of quality-control sera to obtain information about intra- and interlaboratory variability.

Quality control in clinical chemistry: the two-sample plot and improvement of laboratory performance.

A two-sample plot is often used to display test results in clinical chemistry external quality control programs. The use of control materials at different concentrations calls for a re-evaluation of the two-sample plot. A modification of the two-sample plot is presented.