Clinical laboratory quality control: a costly process now out of control.
Clin Chim Acta
; 260(2): 163-74, 1997 Apr 25.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9177911
ABSTRACT
We studied laboratory internal quality control (QC) processes using the College of American Pathologists Q-Probes program. Over 500 institutions participated, providing practices based on approximately 710,000 cholesterol, 880,000 calcium, 400,000 digoxin, and 1,180,000 hemoglobin QC results. The costs of QC included participant median control samples rates comprising 9.1, 9.4, 37.0, and 6.8% for the four analytes respectively, repeat patient test rates of 0.36% for hemoglobin to 0.65% for digoxin, and median delays in reporting results when QC exceptions occurred of 15.8 min for calcium to 24.7 min for hemoglobin. Quality control practices were complex and highly variable among participants and frequently differed from internal laboratory protocols and from long-established quality guidelines. We conclude that QC is costly, and laboratorians frequently do not follow established QC practices, in part because they are complex. To improve compliance, we believe QC practices must be simplified.
Search on Google
Banco de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Control de Calidad
/
Química Clínica
/
Laboratorios
Tipo de estudio:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Guideline
/
Health_economic_evaluation
Límite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Año:
1997
Tipo del documento:
Article