Free email course · Metrological traceability · Five emails over ten days
What is your result traceable to?
Follow the value behind the number.
“Traceable” is a familiar claim. But what does it tell us about a laboratory result? Make sense of references, calibration and uncertainty through five short emails grounded in everyday laboratory work.
Short and manageable
About three minutes
One idea in each email, explained through familiar situations and occasional small reflections. Read it when it suits you.
Grounded in laboratory work
Follow the connection
Understand how calibration relates a result to a reference, and why uncertainty and material suitability matter.
Free, with a clear purpose
An introduction
For numerical laboratory measurements. No calculations, certificate-review worksheet or technical project.
Your five emails
A little more clarity each time.
For laboratory scientists, quality leads, managers and assessors seeking an introduction or refresher.
Day 0 · Email 1
Follow the value
Distinguish measurement traceability from tracking a specimen.
Day 2 · Email 2
Calibration gives the signal meaning
Separate calibration, adjustment and quality control.
Day 4 · Email 3
A chain of values—and uncertainty
Understand why a reference value comes with uncertainty.
Day 7 · Email 4
The material must suit its job
Meet material suitability and commutability, in plain language.
Day 10 · Email 5
Say what the claim supports
Recognise what traceability establishes—and what still needs other evidence.
Days are counted from confirmed enrolment, not particular weekdays. Delivery may vary slightly with email processing.
Try the approach
A traceable calibrator. Every question answered?
Imagine a fictional laboratory with a well-documented calibrator. Does that documentation establish that every patient result is suitable for every clinical use?
Reveal the explanation
No. The calibration connection is valuable evidence, but it does not settle every question about the result. Measurement uncertainty, specimen effects and the requirements of the intended use still matter.
Your educator
Stephen MacDonald PhD FRCPath
Consultant Clinical Scientist and educator, explaining laboratory measurement and quality through questions that arise in everyday work.
What this course will help you do
Explain the basic connection between a measured result and a reference through calibration, and recognise why uncertainty and material suitability belong in the explanation. Detailed certificate appraisal, calibration investigations and uncertainty budgets require further practical teaching. This course carries no competence assessment or certificate.
Make traceability easier to understand.
Five short emails. Free to join. Enter your email address and confirm it using the message we send you. If you have already confirmed your address with our email-learning service, another confirmation may not be needed.
Your first lesson follows confirmed enrolment. The others arrive around days 2, 4, 7 and 10. Joining this course will not automatically enrol you in other courses or The Laboratory Quality Briefing.
You can stop the emails using the links in each lesson. Use email preferences to manage individual course choices. Read the privacy notice.
A few practical questions
Is it really free?
Yes. No payment or membership is required for these five introductory emails.
Can I take more than one course?
Yes. Each course has its own sign-up. If you start several together, their schedules can overlap.
Will I learn how to assess a calibration certificate?
You will learn the concepts needed to understand the questions. Appraising certificates, reviewing a complete hierarchy and calculating uncertainty contributions require more detailed practical teaching and local procedures.
What if an email does not arrive?
Check your junk folder and search for “Traceability” from Pathology Uncertainty. For help, contact stephen@pathologymu.com.