VLE key terms

A curriculum planning approach that starts by defining the learning outcomes students must achieve, then designs assessments that prove those outcomes, and only then selects instructional activities and content.

The principle that intended learning outcomes, teaching and learning activities, and assessment tasks must all target the same cognitive skills so students are graded on what they were actually taught to do.

A theory holding that working memory has limited capacity, so instruction should minimize extraneous mental effort and chunk new material so learners can build durable schemas in long-term memory.

Temporary instructional support, such as worked examples, checklists, or guided prompts, that is gradually withdrawn as learners gain competence so they can perform the task independently.

Low-stakes, ongoing checks of learning used during instruction to reveal misunderstandings and guide immediate teaching adjustments, rather than to assign a final grade.

A graded evaluation administered at the end of a unit or course to judge whether a learner has attained the intended outcomes, such as a final practical exam or certification test.

The formal process of determining the minimum score that separates competent from non-competent performance, often using a panel of subject experts who judge item difficulty.

Grading that compares a learner's performance to a defined competency standard rather than to the performance of classmates, so all students could theoretically pass.

A scoring guide that lists the criteria for a task and describes observable levels of performance for each criterion, making grading consistent and transparent across multiple evaluators.

Infection control practices applied to all patients regardless of diagnosis, including hand hygiene, gloves, gowns, and eye protection when contact with blood or body fluids is anticipated.

A graded set of containment requirements, from BSL-1 to BSL-4, specifying facility design, equipment, and work practices matched to the risk group of the agents handled.

A ventilated enclosure that uses directional airflow and HEPA filtration to protect workers, the environment, and sometimes the product from infectious aerosols generated during handling of specimens.

A ventilated enclosure that draws vapors away from the operator to protect personnel from hazardous chemicals, but does not filter exhaust air and must not be used for infectious aerosol work.

A standardized document supplied with each hazardous chemical that lists its hazards, handling precautions, spill response, first aid, and disposal requirements for worker safety.

A written program required for workplaces with bloodborne pathogen risk that describes engineering controls, work practices, hepatitis B vaccination, and post-exposure evaluation procedures.

The central range of values, typically covering the middle 95 percent of a healthy reference population, against which a patient result is compared to help interpret health or disease.

A laboratory result so far outside normal limits that it suggests immediate life-threatening risk, requiring prompt notification of a responsible caregiver and documentation of that communication.

A quality rule that flags a result when the difference from that same patient's previous value exceeds a defined threshold, prompting review for specimen mix-up or true clinical change.

A control chart that plots quality control results over time against mean and standard deviation limits, making shifts, trends, and random error easy to see visually.

A set of statistical rejection rules, such as 1-3s and 2-2s, applied to control results to decide whether an analytical run should be accepted or rejected for error.

A measure of assay imprecision calculated as the standard deviation divided by the mean and expressed as a percentage, allowing comparison of variability across tests with different units.

An external quality program in which unknown specimens are sent to many laboratories and results are compared to peer groups to verify ongoing analytical accuracy.

The documented steps taken to eliminate the root cause of a detected nonconformity, such as a failed control or audit finding, so the problem does not recur.

A structured investigation that traces an error or adverse event back to its underlying system and process failures, rather than stopping at the individual who made the mistake.

A proactive risk assessment in which a team lists the ways a process could fail, rates each failure's severity and likelihood, and prioritizes preventive controls before harm occurs.

A profile of cellular blood components, including red cell, white cell, and platelet counts plus hemoglobin, hematocrit, and indices, used to screen and classify anemia and infection.

The percentage or absolute number of immature red cells in blood, which indicates whether the bone marrow is responding appropriately to anemia by increasing production.

A stained drop of blood spread thinly on a slide and examined microscopically to assess cell morphology, distribution, and the presence of abnormal or immature forms.

A physical, chemical, and microscopic examination of urine that screens for renal, metabolic, and urinary tract disorders and includes dipstick testing and sediment review.

The examination of centrifuged urine under a microscope to identify cells, casts, crystals, and organisms that indicate renal disease or urinary tract pathology.

A differential staining procedure that separates bacteria into gram-positive and gram-negative groups based on cell wall structure, guiding early antibiotic decisions from clinical specimens.

A laboratory method that grows organisms from a specimen and tests their susceptibility to antimicrobial agents, providing the evidence needed to select effective therapy.

A coordinated program of policies and practices that promotes appropriate antibiotic selection, dose, and duration to improve outcomes and limit the emergence of resistant organisms.

The process of adjusting an instrument using materials of known value so that its readings trace back accurately to established standards, usually verified afterward with quality control material.

A scheduled team meeting where clinicians from different disciplines share patient information and jointly plan care, giving laboratory staff a channel to explain results and recommend testing.

A patient's voluntary agreement to a procedure or research participation after receiving understandable information about purpose, risks, benefits, and alternatives, documented according to policy.

The ethical and legal duty to protect patient health information from unauthorized disclosure, sharing it only with those who need it for care, payment, or legally required reporting.

The set of duties and responsibilities a laboratory professional is legally and ethically permitted to perform based on licensure, certification, training, and employer policy.