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Standards and Quality Control
Osmometers used for testing biological solutions should be checked
additionally by making determinations on actual biological solutions or
controls formulated to simulate biological solutions. Several biological
controls are commercially available and may be recommended
or specified in your area. Contact your Advanced Instruments
representative to obtain Protinol® Protein-based Controls or Renol
™
Urine Osmolality Controls. Please check with your professional
associations and regulatory bodies for their guidelines and/or
requirements, and refer to our recommendations contained herein.
Maintenance of standards
Doubts about the accuracy of standards destroy confidence in
the accuracy of the test. Advanced
™
osmometer standards are
specified to be within very close tolerances. Several of the sodium
chloride-based reference and calibration solutions designed for the
Advanced
™
Osmometers are sealed in glass ampules to insure against
any possibility of alteration during transit or storage. However, we
recommend that you test samples from each newly-received lot and
maintain records of your test results on osmometer standards for
reference.
Quality control implementation
The following recommendations outline the minimum requirements for
quality control:
• Read, understand and follow the instructions and recommendations
in the user’s guide as closely as practical.
• The instrument repeatability and accuracy should be checked
each time it is used, as recommended in step 9 of the sample
test procedure section. Run at least two levels of standards or
controls daily. Prepare, maintain and follow additional verification
procedures specifically adapted to your own laboratory
requirements as necessary.
• Repeatability tips are specified in the previous chapter. It depends
to a certain extent upon operator technique and can usually be
improved by carefully following the suggestions in the repeatability
tips section.
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