STANDARDS vs CONTROLS

STANDARDS – A control is also known as blank. It is known not to contain whatever substance is being monitored. Its purpose is to check contamination of the test instruments, equipment, and other implements with the substance being analyzed. For example to test the glucose level in a urine sample, it is necessary to make sure the instruments have not been contaminated. When a blank sample is tested on the instrument, one that is free from glucose, a positive result will identify a contaminated instrument or other chemical solution and requires that all chemical solutions and instruments must be sterilized or cleaned before proceeding with the analysis.

CONTROLS – A standard is material containing a precisely known concentration of a substance for use in quantitative analysis. “Standard” means a reference that can be used to determine unknown concentrations or to calibrate analytical instruments. Consider the same example above of testing the glucose level in urine. For analysis we must have a glucose standard. We prepare a standard solution of pure glucose and prepare a standard curve which in turn is used to calculate the amount of glucose in the urine samples.

SOURCE: https://homework.study.com/explanation/what-is-the-difference-between-control-and-standard-in-a-pathology-laboratory.html