Abstract
Background: Six sigma is a quality indicator used in biochemistry laboratories to evaluate analytical performance. We aimed to evaluate our analytical performance by calculating the six sigma values of some tests in our own laboratory.Materials and Methods: In this study, we used the five-month internal quality control values of 49 biochemistry and immunoassay tests analyzed on Beckman Coulter AU 5800 and DXI 800 analyzers. We calculated six sigma data using 2 different allowed total error values (% TEa)[(Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and Ricos biyological variation]. We accepted three and above six sigma values as an indicator of good performance.Results: When we evaluated according to CLIA criteria, the analytical performance of ALP, CK and amylase was 6 and above, while according to Ricos, only the analytical performance of the prolactin test was 6 and above at both control levels.Conclusions: Six sigma is important in quality control evaluation. When performing the sigma calculation, it should be kept in mind that the permissible total error values used may cause different performance data.
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