Evaluation of clinical chemistry tests in emergency laboratory by sigma metrics

Abstract

Abstract Aim Emergency department laboratories, besides from giving accurate results, should be quick enough in order not to delay patient care. Giving fast results doesn’t mean to ignore quality, rather it should always be improved to prevent erroneous results. Six sigma is a modern assessment of quality which is used to determine the analytical performance. Our aim was to evaluate the analytical performance of clinical chemistry tests in our emergency department laboratory by using sigma metrics. Materials and methods Our study was performed by using the internal and external quality assessment data of 13 clinical chemistry tests of emergency laboratory. Sigma levels were calculated using bias, coefficient of variation and total allowable error (TEa) ratios of CLIA, Ricos, Rilibak and Turkey. Results Sigma levels of various tests (CK, amylase, ALT, AST, urea, creatinine, total bilirubin, sodium and chloride) were found to be ≥6 according to different TEa’s, whereas the performance of sodium, potassium and chloride were unsatisfactory, according to TEa’s of CLIA, Ricos and Rilibak. Conclusion Since most of our sigma values were found to be over 3, the analytical performance of clinical chemistry tests was thought to be acceptable and our laboratory can be regarded as a qualified emergency laboratory.