27 May 2026 (Wednesday) - Westgard QC Update


The nice people at Wesgard QC sent their update today. You can read it by clicking here. I did. I’d suggest you do to, but I’ve got a degree in maths and I found it heavy going.

The headline “Has hematology quality bled out?” caught my eye, but has it? I’d have to take Mr. Westgard’s word for it if he says it has. The British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli was believed to have ranted about "Lies, damned lies, and statistics" when describing the deceptive power of numbers to bolster weak arguments. He might have a point here, he might not. I don’t know.
 
Looking back in time to yesterday I think I might have made my own (albeit informal) Westgard rule… due to a minor problem the details of which are irrelevant here we had to leave non-urgent blood films over the bank holiday weekend, and yesterday I spent the afternoon catching up. A few patients who were clinically stable had blood films made every day (the reasons for which are irrelevant here), and as I reviewed the blood films I noticed that the results didn’t change much from day to day. That’s not a bad QC measure, is it?

No comments:

Post a Comment