Tag Archives: ISO acccreditation

Do all accreditation programmes do harm?

Muir Gray memorably wrote, All screening programmes do harm; some do good as well, and, of these, some do more good than harm at reasonable cost. The first task of any public health service is to identify beneficial programmes by … Continue reading

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ISO management accreditation is a cult

If you’re accredited by UKAS, much of this will be very familiar: TRAITS OF A CULT  Your gut feeling tells you something is wrong. Trust it. The group/guru has the total and only answer – they will make the revolution happen, … Continue reading

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Allow teams to develop their own measures

Standardising some critical areas of practice through checklists is a useful method that works well for aviation.  It is much more practicable than the never-ending tail-chasing over irrelevant issues that ISO accreditation requires.  Checklists were extended to surgery and initially showed … Continue reading

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Workplace discomfort and burnout

Here is a study from Spain investigating the causes of stress in academic workplaces.  These authors found that burnout of staff is caused mainly by structural and functional elements of the organisation.  The solution is case-specific interventions rather than standardisation.  … Continue reading

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How intellectual guilds operate

“They adopt a three-phase position on a controversial new idea. The story isn’t true. The story is true, but so what? We always knew it was true.” The controversial idea behind this blog is isn’t so new.  But ISO laboratory accreditation as … Continue reading

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The slavery of audit

The Bulletin of The Royal College of Pathologists printed a perceptive letter summarising the history of audit, its move from the numeracy-based professions into clinical practice, and its growing use as a tool of political oppression: “the enslavement of human thought and endeavour … Continue reading

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A Visual Study Guide To Cognitive Biases

Here’s a beautiful graphical guide to cognitive biases: See if you can count how many biases apply in those that have taken ISO management accreditation at face value. Set this task as a project for your students!

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