QUALITY CONTROL Improving Laboratory Performance Through Quality Control Five simple steps for QC success Ask the Right Questions to get the Right Answers Complete QC solutions for results you can trust

How Often is Right for QC? It is widely accepted that laboratories should perform QC at least every day of patient testing. However, is this adequate for every assay and for every laboratory? Is running QC once per day really sufficient? What is the “right” frequency for running QC samples in your laboratory? ISO 15189 regulations don’t state a recommended QC frequency but they do recommend that “Quality Control materials shall be periodically examined with a frequency that is based on the stability of the procedure and the risk of harm to the patient from an erroneous result”. ISO 15189 understands...

1. Which assays are more stable compared to others? Some assays naturally perform better than others, giving consistently better results and rarely producing any errors. On the other hand, some assays perform inconsistently, having a higher rate of error and much lower stability. It’s important that laboratories can recognise which assays are more stable and consistent in comparison to others and ensure that they are running QC at an appropriate frequency, in order to detect any clinically significant errors. By utilising an EQA scheme and/or peer group reporting programme, method validation...

2. Which tests are higher risk and have a higher impact if an erroneous result is released? It’s important that you run QC more frequently for higher risk tests. With higher risk tests there is a greater possibility of harm to the patient, therefore it’s of utmost importance that the results released are both accurate and reliable. Any tests that have the following characteristics should be considered high risk and QC should be run more frequently in these instances. • A test where there could be a detrimental consequence, should the wrong test results be released • A test that supports the clinician’s...

4. What is the time between QC evaluations? Let’s consider another scenario, both Lab A and Lab B now decide to change their QC strategy. Instead of running QC once per day, they now decide to run it every 100 patient samples. Great news, correct? This perhaps is good news for Lab B, as they will now be running QC more frequently, reducing risk for their patients. However, this is not so good for Lab A. Let’s say that an error occurs after 50 patient samples have been run. For Lab B, they will detect the problem straight away on day 1 and will be able to investigate the problem preventing the...

QUALITY CONTROL Randox Laboratories Ltd, 55 Diamond Road, Crumlin, County Antrim, BT29 4QY, United Kingdom +44 (0) 28 9442 2413 True third party controls offering complete test menu consolidation Uniquely combining more than 100 parameters conveniently in a single control, laboratories can significantly reduce costs and consolidate without compromising on quality. As true third party controls, unbiased performance assessment with any instrument or method is guaranteed. Online QC software with real-time peer group statistics Compatible for use with the Acusera range of third party controls, the...