Westgard QC, Inc: Online QC Tools, Beta version

James O. Westgard and Paul Schilling

QC Calculator
QC Plotter
QC Simulator

QC Checker

Following the link at the bottom will take you to a special area of Westgard Web for calculators and plotters. All of the formatting, menu tabs, side links, and so forth will disappear; all you will see is the form where you enter numbers and select options.

These QC Tools are for training and education in quality control in healthcare laboratories. They are designed to help users to calculate basic quality control data, such as mean, standard deviation, cumulative mean, cumulative standard deviation, etc.

In addition to these basic quality control calculations, users may also create control charts with different defined control limits, as well as histograms. Specifically, users will be able to create Levey-Jennings Control Charts that are best suited for healthcare laboratories. These control charts will be "blank" - with control lines drawn but no data plotted.

Note that the graphics generated will "pop up" - you will need to allow pop up windows in your browser.

Please let us know what you think of them.

QC Calculator
Can be used with initial replication data from a control material to calculate the mean, SD, CV, and control limits. Can also be used to calculate cumulative mean, SD, CV, and control limits when user enters summation terms from earlier calculations. Prepares a blank control chart that can be printed.

QC Plotter
Can be used to display control results on a control chart. User enters the mean and SD for a control material (available from QC Calculator), specifies the control limits to be drawn on the chart, and enters up to 60 control results to be plotted on the control chart that can be printed.

QC Simulator
NOTE:This tool is only available with the Basic QC online course or with the Basic QC Practices 3rd Edition Can be used to prepare trial sets of data that demonstrate the effects of systematic errors (shift of mean) and random errors (increase in SD). User can display these trial sets of data in the form of histograms and can also view these data on a control chart whose limits represent the stable mean and SD of a method. Useful to learn how different analytical errors affect the control results.

QC Checker
NOTE:This tool is only available with the Basic QC online course or with the Basic QC Practices 3rd Edition Can be used to manually enter control values for display on a control chart and for checking control status by selected control rules. The user enters the values for one run, checks control status, then enters the values for the next run, etc. Assists the user in checking specific sets of control data and for clarifying the interpretation of the control results.