Quality management in healthcare: Assessment tools in clinical diagnostic laboratories

Abstract

Various strategies have been adopted to reduce medical diagnostic laboratory errors. Proficiency testing (PT) is one of the most efficient external quality assessment (EQA) approaches which include an external assessment of a laboratory’s analytical performance in comparison to its peers or to an accuracy-based reference system. To assess quality, the clinical biochemistry laboratory routinely participated in two external PT programs: Provincial Health Metrx and College of American Pathologists (CAP) survey. In Health Metrx, 598 tests for 43 analyte resulted in 3 discrepancies, yielding a total discrepancy rate of 0.50%. In CAP survey, of 431 tests for 58 analyte, 3 discrepancies resulted, yielding a total discrepancy rate of 0.70%. These results are in sync with the performance criteria and requirements set up by provincial regulatory agencies and both PT surveys. We suggest that proficiency testing programs should be an integral part of quality care to promote continuous quality improvement in healthcare.