External Quality Assessment of stat test intralaboratory turnaround times - Pilot study from the members of the Working Group for the Standardizationand Promotion of Turnaround Time Control under the auspices of the Comitato Italiano per la Standardizzazione dei Metodi Ematologici e di Laboratorio
M. Negri et al., External Quality Assessment of stat test intralaboratory turnaround times - Pilot study from the members of the Working Group for the Standardizationand Promotion of Turnaround Time Control under the auspices of the Comitato Italiano per la Standardizzazione dei Metodi Ematologici e di Laboratorio, CLIN CH L M, 36(11), 1998, pp. 867-870
We describe procedures, results and prospects of a pilot program in Externa
l Quality Assessment (EQA) of the stat test intralaboratory turnaround time
s. Our goals are to promote quality by systematic monitoring and comparison
of performances by laboratories, continuous investigation into the state o
f the art of the processes from receipt of sample to transmission of result
s and creation of a data base for standardization of measures and definitio
n of consensus values for turnaround time.
Of 30 laboratories invited to participate, 25 took part, agreeing to record
times of arrival and transmission for all determinations of three analytes
(blood hemoglobin, serum/plasma potassium and plasma prothrombin time) for
seven consecutive days and to continue for one or more further periods of
seven days as necessary if there were less than 300 determinations for each
analyte. Within a preset time limit, data were sent by e-mail on an Excel(
TM) file and we sent back two reports per analyte, showing:
i) the graph for time vs. percentage of tests completed and several measure
s of turnaround time;
ii) results of all laboratories in graph form, allowing each laboratory to
identify only its own data.
The high proportion of participating laboratories among those invited (83 %
) encourages us to implement the EQA program systematically, on a half-year
ly basis, extending it to all laboratories wishing to participate in Italy
or elsewhere in Europe.