Chapter 5: Performance Improvement in the Lab

Question 1

Vision and mission statements:

Answer 1

allows an organization to state expected goals and unite all employees behind a common goal

Question 2

Analytic sensitivity:

Answer 2

detection limit of a test, usually defined at the
0.95 confidence level (±2 SD)

Question 3

Analytic specificity:

Answer 3

ability to not react with substances other than the analyte of interest

Question 4

Clinical or diagnostic sensitivity:

Answer 4

proportion of positive test results in patients with disease (true-positive results)

Question 5

Clinical or diagnostic specificity:

Answer 5

proportion of negative test results in patients without the disease (true-negative results)

Question 6

Incidence:

Answer 6

number of new cases of a disease over a period of time

Question 7

Prevalence:

Answer 7

frequency of a disease at a designated point in time

Question 8

Predictive values:

Answer 8

influenced by the prevalence of the disease or analyte unless the test is 100% sensitive (for negative predictive value) or specific (for positive predictive value)