Medical Technology Professional Ethics, Values, Laboratory Organization, and Quality Control

Vocabulary flashcards covering Medical Technology ethics, bioethical principles, legal implications, clinical laboratory organization, technical equipment, quality management systems, and National Reference Laboratories.

General Ethics

A branch of ethics that presents basic truths about human acts, from which general principles of morality are deduced.

Special Ethics

The application of general ethical principles to specific departments of human activity across individual and social levels.

Individual Ethics

A division of special ethics concerned with an individual's moral obligations to God, self, and fellow human beings.

Social Ethics

A division of special ethics concerned with moral responsibilities toward the family, the state, and the world.

Professional Ethics

A branch of moral science dealing with what a professional should or should not do in the workplace, binding members around shared values.

Medical Ethics

A field of applied ethics studying moral values and judgments as they apply to clinical practice and healthcare delivery.

Autonomy

A core bioethical principle stating that a patient has the right to refuse or choose their medical treatment.

Beneficence

A bioethical principle dictating that healthcare practitioners must act in the best interest of the patient.

Nonmaleficence

A bioethical principle providing that evil or harm should not be inflicted on oneself or others.

Justice

A bioethical principle dealing with the fair and equal distribution of scarce healthcare resources.

Stewardship

The ethical responsibility to nurture, cultivate, and responsibly care for resources and duties entrusted to oneself.

Inherent Personal Value

An internal moral guide developed from life experiences that motivates a person to choose what is right and good for oneself.

Code of Conduct

A formal set of rules that defines expected behaviors and ethical standards for employees within a workplace.

Negligence

The failure to act with reasonable care, characterized by carelessness or deviation from standard care, applicable to anyone.

Malpractice

An act of negligence or omission committed by a licensed professional in their professional capacity that deviates from accepted medical standards and may result in patient injury or death.

Economic Damages

Measurable financial losses awarded in legal claims, such as lost earning capacity and medical expenses.

Noneconomic Damages

Non-monetary compensation awarded for physical damage (e.g., loss of vision or limbs) and psychological suffering.

Embryonic Stem Cells

Undifferentiated master cells derived from $4$- to $5$-day-old embryos blastocysts with approximately $150$\text{ cells} possessing high potential to develop into specialized tissues.

Adult / Somatic Stem Cells

Undifferentiated cells found in adult bone marrow, placentas, and umbilical cord blood used to repair damaged tissues.

Persistent Vegetative State (PVS)

A condition characterized by lack of self/environment awareness, absent voluntary behavioral responses, and preserved autonomic functions with sleep-wake cycles.

Voluntary Euthanasia

The intentional ending of a terminally ill patient's life conducted with the explicit consent of the patient.

Nonvoluntary Euthanasia

Euthanasia conducted when a patient is incapable of giving consent, such as under the Netherlands Groningen Protocol for infants.

Involuntary Euthanasia

Euthanasia performed on a patient who is capable of giving consent but has not requested it, which is legally classified as a crime.

Passive Euthanasia

The practice of withholding or withdrawing life-prolonging treatments or medical equipment to allow natural death to occur.

Active Euthanasia

Taking specific active steps, such as administering a lethal injection or using suicide machines, to deliberately cause death.

Contraception

Birth control measures that prevent the fertilization of an ovum by sperm, including barrier and hormonal methods.

Contragestion

Methods that prevent the implantation of a fertilized blastocyst into the uterine wall, such as Intrauterine Devices (IUDs).

Republic Act 7170

Also known as the Organ Donation Act of 1991, the legal act governing organ donation and transplantation in the Philippines.

Clinical Laboratory

A facility designed to perform analytical procedures on clinical specimens to monitor, diagnose, and evaluate disease processes.

The 70% Rule

The clinical standard asserting that approximately $70\%$ of all clinical medical decisions rely directly on clinical laboratory data.

Accuracy

The closeness of a test measurement to the true or accepted target value.

Precision

The closeness of agreement among repeated, independent test results measured under identical analytical conditions.

Sensitivity

The proportion of individuals with a specific disease who yield a positive test result.

Specificity

The proportion of individuals without a specific disease who yield a negative test result.

Target Bullseye Quality Control Chart

A diagram used in quality control to visually illustrate combinations of high and low accuracy and precision.

Clinical Pathology

A laboratory branch focusing on diagnostic liquid analysis of blood, body fluids, and excretions via automated or manual methods.

Anatomic Pathology

A laboratory branch focusing on the structural and morphological examination of tissues, organs, biopsies, and cells.

Molecular Pathology

A branch of laboratory medicine focused on genomic analysis including DNA/RNA extraction, PCR amplification, and gene sequencing.

Institutional-Based Laboratory

A laboratory operating within the physical premises of a parent institution like a hospital, clinic, or university.

Non-Institution-Based Laboratory

An independent freestanding laboratory operating outside a parent hospital or clinic.

Primary Level Clinical Laboratory

A facility with a minimum area of $10\,m^2$ offering baseline testing like routine urinalysis, fecalysis, CBC, and blood typing.

Secondary Level Clinical Laboratory

A facility with a minimum area of $20\,m^2$ providing primary capabilities plus routine clinical chemistry, routine coagulation studies, Gram stain, and KOH.

Tertiary Level Clinical Laboratory

A high-complexity facility with a minimum area of $60\,m^2$ providing advanced testing like automated immunology, culture and sensitivity, and histopathology.

DOH Administrative Order No. 2021-0037

The Philippine Department of Health regulation standardizing clinical laboratory classifications and minimum service requirements.

Pathologist

A licensed physician specializing in pathology who serves as laboratory director and oversees operational and clinical functions.

Chief Medical Technologist

A Registered Medical Technologist with management experience who manages day-to-day administrative and technical operations.

Tissue Processor

An automated histopathology instrument used to process tissue specimens through dehydration, clearing, and wax infiltration.

Rotary Microtome

A mechanical instrument used in histopathology to cut paraffin-embedded tissues into extremely micro-thin sections for microscopy.

Clinical Chemistry Autoanalyzer

An automated analyzer (such as FURUNO CA-270) used for high-throughput measurement of chemical analytes in serum or plasma.

Biosafety Cabinet (Class II)

An enclosed ventilated cabinet in microbiology designed to protect personnel, the environment, and samples from biohazardous aerosols.

Automated Blood Culture System

A specialized incubator system (such as BacT/ALERT) that continuously monitors blood samples for microbial pathogen growth.

Automated Hematology Analyzer

An automated instrument using electrical impedance or flow cytometry to perform complete blood counts and cell counts.

Blood Bank Refrigerator

A heavy-duty temperature-monitored cold storage unit designed specifically to preserve blood bags and blood components safely.

Platelet Agitator

A specialized blood bank equipment that maintains continuous gentle agitation of platelet concentrates to prevent clotting during storage.

ELISA Microplate Reader

A specialized spectrophotometer that measures absorbance in multi-well plates to quantify immunological or serological reactions.

Urine Reagent Strips

Multiparameter chemical test strips containing reagent pads used in clinical microscopy to analyze urine analytes rapidly.

Quality Assurance (QA)

A broad proactive operational system monitoring pre-analytic, analytic, and post-analytic phases to ensure accurate diagnostic results.

Quality Control (QC)

A targeted component of QA involving the regular testing of known control materials to evaluate analytical instrument accuracy and precision.

Pre-Analytic Phase

The testing stage encompassing all steps prior to analysis, including test ordering, patient identification, phlebotomy, sample transport, and processing.

Analytic Phase

The testing phase focused on actual laboratory specimen measurement, SOP compliance, autoanalyzer operation, and QC execution.

Post-Analytic Phase

The final testing stage involving result verification, reporting, critical value notification, sample archiving, and waste disposal.

Levey-Jennings (L-J) Control Chart

A statistical graph plotting daily quality control runs against mean and standard deviation limits ($\pm 1SD$, $\pm 2SD$, $\pm 3SD$) to monitor performance.

Trend (L-J Chart)

A continuous gradual drift of control values in one direction across $6$ or more consecutive analytical runs.

Shift (L-J Chart)

An abrupt shift where control values fall consistently on one side of the mean for $6$ or more consecutive runs.

Outlier (L-J Chart)

A single isolated quality control measurement value that falls beyond expected target thresholds exceeding $\pm 3SD$.

Pareto Chart

A quality management bar graph that ranks operational errors in descending order along with a cumulative percentage line based on the $80/20$ rule.

Research Institute for Tropical Medicine (RITM)

The designated Philippine National Reference Laboratory for infectious, emerging, and tropical diseases.

San Lazaro Hospital SACCL (SLH-SACCL)

The National Reference Laboratory specializing in HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, syphilis, and sexually transmitted infections.

East Avenue Medical Center (EAMC)

The National Reference Laboratory assigned for clinical toxicology, drugs of abuse testing, heavy metals, and micronutrients.

National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI)

The National Reference Laboratory for hematology, immunohematology, blood banking, organ tissue typing, and immunopathology.

Lung Center of the Philippines (LCP)

The designated National Reference Laboratory for routine and specialized clinical chemistry assays.

Philippine Heart Center (PHC)

The National Reference Laboratory specializing in anatomic pathology for cardiovascular diseases.

ISO 15189

An international quality standard developed by ISO specifically specifying requirements for quality and competence in medical laboratories.