Documentation for Quality Assurance

Abstract

The previous chapters have been concerned mainly with the operations of quality control. Most quality control measures are essentially little more than good scientific practice, the sort of things learned in college analytical chemistry courses, but which are neglected in the hustle of getting the work out. If analytical chemistry were carried out in a vacuum, as a purely intellectual pursuit, quality control would be sufficient. However, analytical chemistry is always carried out for a purpose, that is, it is an information-generating process and its output is of real economic value to the outside world. For this reason quality control by itself is not sufficient since the outside world of clients, purchasers, accreditors, lawyers, judges, and so on, needs to be assured of the quality of the analytical data. Quality assurance arose as an answer to this problem and has been extended to assurance of the security and traceability of the data, as well as quality control. Quality assurance is an outwardly directed activity by which the laboratory assures others of the quality of the information it produces.