Australia as one big laboratory – are our results good enough?

Abstract

Patients move around and may be tested at laboratories all around the country. Doctors use the same guidelines and information for interpretation across the country. Ideally, results from all laboratories should be close enough so that a patient can be diagnosed or monitored using results from any laboratory in the country. The starting point here is to be aware of how results vary across the country. Using the results from 2021 RCPAQAP Liquid Serum Chemistry program, which are presumed to be commutable, we have assessed the precision (CVAust) and bias across the country. For 2 out of the 51 tests assessed, the CVAust met the optimal level; 8 desirable; 13 minimal; 13 borderline; 10 poor; and 5 out of range. For tests with AACB/RCPA recommended common reference intervals, 7 tests confirmed sufficiently small bias, however for 12 tests one or more methods showed a significant bias. For tests without recommended common reference intervals, the data suggests that 12 tests could share a reference interval and for 8 tests a method-specific interval is indicated. Data from the Liquid Serum Chemistry program is important to interpret result from different laboratories, to consider common reference intervals and monitor improvements in assay traceability.