TY - JOUR T1 - Should spirometer quality control be treated like other laboratory devices? JF - ERJ Open Research JO - erjor DO - 10.1183/23120541.00249-2018 VL - 5 IS - 1 SP - 00249-2018 AU - Jeffrey M. Haynes AU - Gregg L. Ruppel Y1 - 2019/02/01 UR - http://openres.ersjournals.com/content/5/1/00249-2018.abstract N2 - Spirometry plays an important role in the diagnosis and management of obstructive and restrictive lung disease [1ā€“4]. To help ensure the accuracy of spirometry testing the American Thoracic Society (ATS)/European Respiratory Society (ERS) recommend that the calibration of spirometers be verified daily with a 3-L syringe and the recorded value should be 3ā€…Lā€…Ā±3.5% [5]. This recommendation is based on expert opinion, not evidence. The following case describes a situation where a significant spirometer malfunction was not detected by the ATS/ERS spirometer calibration limits and offers an alternative approach to spirometer quality control.The ATS/ERS spirometer calibration standards may not be adequate http://ow.ly/Pqdq30nwAmb ER -