Cost of Quality-Applicability in Clinical Laboratories, Particularly in Resource-Limited Countries: A Survey of the Literature

Abstract

Healthcare providers rely on laboratory results to make medical decisions daily. Laboratories must adhere to specified requirements to ensure that the service provided is reliable and safe. The service provided to patients and clinicians should therefore be customer-focused. Discussions on expenditure on continuous quality improvement activities have grown as more laboratories develop quality management systems. This discussion is even more relevant as laboratory managers try to balance their organization’s productivity by reducing waste and unnecessary expenditure. Quality cost is the total cost of activities that prevent or mitigate errors in laboratory processes (cost of good quality), and failure cost is the cost resulting from flawed laboratory processes (cost of poor quality). There is extensive evidence on the application of CoQ in manufacturing and other non-health service industries, however there is limited information about its applicability in clinical laboratories. Furthermore, laboratories located in countries with scarce resources may face unique challenges in assessing quality costs, including the ease of data collection for cost inputs. This article examines the information presented in the literature on quality-related costs in clinical laboratories. Secondly, it provides a summary of various cost models. Finally, it explores the application of quality cost in clinical laboratories, particularly in resource-limited countries, and outlines the benefits and challenges.