What does quality control lockout prevent?

What does quality control lockout prevent?

• A. Prevents quality control from being recorded when outside 2 standard deviations.
• B. Prevents testing when quality control has not been performed.
• C. Prevents operators from changing quality control records.
• D. Prevents the wrong quality control material to be used for a particular test.

Answer: (B)

Quality control lockout is a safeguard that stops the analyzer from running patient tests until a valid quality control check has been performed and passed. The idea is to ensure that results are reported only when the instrument’s performance has been verified as acceptable, so testing doesn’t proceed in the absence of QC verification. Therefore, preventing testing when quality control has not been performed best captures this function. Other safeguards exist for different purposes—editing QC records, ensuring the right QC material is used, or deciding whether QC results should be recorded based on out-of-range values—but they are separate controls from the testing lockout.

Quality control lockout is a safeguard that stops the analyzer from running patient tests until a valid quality control check has been performed and passed. The idea is to ensure that results are reported only when the instrument’s performance has been verified as acceptable, so testing doesn’t proceed in the absence of QC verification. Therefore, preventing testing when quality control has not been performed best captures this function. Other safeguards exist for different purposes—editing QC records, ensuring the right QC material is used, or deciding whether QC results should be recorded based on out-of-range values—but they are separate controls from the testing lockout.