EVALUATION AND IMPLIMENTATION OF A COMMERCIAL QUALITY CONTROL PRODUCT TO MONITOR SERUM INDICES DETECTION IN DAILY ROUTINE USE

Abstract

Abstract Introduction/Objective Clinical Chemistry analyzers measure serum indices of each sample. Serum indices affect patient result. Yet there is no current common practice of monitoring the Instruments ability to measure serum indices using a commercial QC product. In this study, we focused on such Q.C. product evaluation. Methods/Case Report We evaluated the implementation of daily routine use of serum indices QC. We used a commercially available Bio-Rad (Hercules, California, United States) LiquichekTM Serum Indices QC material on Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois, United States) Architect c8000 Chemistry analyzers in National Guard Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We run the QC twice a day in three Instruments for Two months. Data transferred to Bio-Rad Unity Real Time, a QC data management software. Mean, standard deviation and coefficient of variation calculated for each Instrument. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) A total of 1,296 data points were collected. The QC performed well with a precision of % CV ≤ 1.97% Hemolysis, ≤ 2.67% Icterus and ≤ 6.80% Lipemia. The three instruments performed with a slightly different mean. No “out of control” situations observed. TAT was not affected. To mimic a possible day-to-day Lab scenario, the saline bottle used as HIL reagent was deliberately contaminated using a few drops of whole blood to study the effect of gross hemolysis reagent contamination on HIL readings. The commercial HIL quality control detected the problem. Its performance showed increase in Hemolysis, slight decrease in Icterus and a slight increase in Lipemia readings. Conclusion Bio-Rad Liquichek Serum Indices QC is easy to use with a long shelf life. It helps to monitor the instrument’s ability to detect the sample integrity. Results can be compared to peer group unlike the home brewed QC. Peer group comparison helps to monitor and troubleshoot any bias or shift from the peer group and brings benefit to the total QC process.