Total quality management in hematology

Healthcare is changing and clinical laboratory testing must change with it. In no discipline is this change more profound than in hematology. The prin ciples of total quality management (TQM) including continuous quality impro vement, reengineering and strategic planning can facilitate these changes. In the past, hematology has often been excluded from these processes due to its many manual procedures and the degree of expertise and skill needed to perform the testing. As automated technology continues to evolve, hematolo gy testing, like other testing, will become integrated into the core, clini cal laboratory. We suggest TQM can, and should, guide the way.