Vocabulary for use in measurement procedures and description of reference materials in laboratory medicine.

The preparation of written records of measurement procedures and descriptions of reference materials requires order, scientific and practical expertise, exactness, and completeness. Realizing the importance of adequate documentation in science, practice, and industrial development, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) has drafted two European Standards on the two subjects, presenting the structure and contents of such documents. The standards, however, do not provide guidance to the proper use of quantities, units, equations, numerical values, and terminology. Laboratory workers writing procedures and descriptions of materials have various educational backgrounds, so that it may be difficult to achieve harmonization of presentation and language. The present text provides an overview of structure of such documents (with reference to the CEN standards), some principles of quantities and units, a common vocabulary (based on authoritative international standards and recommendations), 144 named and defined concepts, and an extensive bibliography.