Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are essential written instructions that guide laboratory staff in performing routine activities consistently and accurately. They help ensure that tests are conducted the same way by all personnel, which leads to reliable results and facilitates monitoring patient changes over time. Effective SOPs are concise, clear, regularly updated, and include all necessary details for personnel to perform tasks correctly.

1. Standard Operating
procedure

2. Standard Operating procedure
• General definition
• A set of written instructions that document a routine or repetitive
activity Followed by an organization
• Laboratory definition
• Documents that include a set of step–by–step instructions that
laboratory staff should meticulously follow when performing a
procedure
• These SOPs are complied to laboratory management system to help
lab staff to carry out complex routine operations

3. • Following well-written SOPs would ensure
Consistency
Accuracy
• Everyone should perform the tests exactly the same way
• So that the same result can be expected from all staff
• Consistency enables people who use laboratory results
to observe changes in a particular patient’s results over
time
• Following written procedures helps laboratory staff
produce more accurate results
• They do not rely on memory alone so they will not
forget steps in the process

4. • Following well-written SOPs would ensure
Consistency
Accuracy
Quality
Consistent (reliable) + Accurate
results are primary goals of the
laboratory and could be
considered as the definition of
quality in the laboratory

5. A good SOP should be
• Concise, Detailed and Clear So that staff not normally performing the procedure will
be able to do so by following the SOP (All necessary details should be included e.g.
ambient temperature requirements and precise timing instructions)
• Easily understood by new personnel or students in training
• Reviewed and Approved by the laboratory management Approval is indicated by a
signature and a date (this is important to ensure that the procedures being used for
testing in the laboratory are those that are up to date and appropriate)
• Updated on a regular basis

6. Laboratory SOP
A number of SOP can be written

7. • Writing SOPs is a Team Mission
• Spreading the tasks of writing SOPs over different staff members
1. Prevents the overloading of one staff member with a huge amount of
work
2. Increases the involvement and commitment of all staff members

8. Package inserts are NOT SOP’s
• Package inserts do NOT include specific information that pertains to
your laboratory
• Do NOT rely solely on manufacturer’s package inserts for SOP’s
• DO use information from the package insert to include in the SOP’s
• DO use illustrations from package inserts

9. SOP should contain information on
1. Who can perform the test
2. Their qualification and training
3. How to carry out the test - pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical stages of
test/procedure
4. Laboratory conditions required for the test/ procedure
5. Routine care and maintenance of equipment
6. Precautions and safety instructions
7. Trouble shooting measures
8. Waste disposal and
9. Linkage with reference laboratories.

10. Roadmap

11. SOP overview
• SOPs are documents that include:
• A set of step–by–step instructions that laboratory staff should
meticulously follow when performing a procedure
• In quality management it is important that You do what you say and
say what you do
• By recording all the major processes in the laboratory in SOPs
• You assure that these processes are carried out in exactly the same way every
time Which means that you have standardized the process

12. Benefits of SOP

19. SOP format
• Format of SOP are standardized so that
• Staff can easily recognise the flow of information and use thm
efficiently

21. National Public Health Lab
Pathology Unit
Leishmans Stain