Evaluation Of Proficiency Testing Research Articles

Evaluation of proficiency test with low number of participants:a case study on the testing of lead and nitrite in water

The gross error of the assigned value-classical statistical method was developed that all participants in proficiency testing activities could obtain unbiased evaluation in case of a low number of participants(& lt; 17). This developed method was employed to evaluate the testing result of nitrite-N and lead in water from participants along the "Belt and Road", which was organized by CNCA in 2019. Use the specified value gross error-classical statistical method to evaluate the feedback result of 29(15+14) participants with non-normal distribution, 4 out of 15 participants in "Lead in Water" get a "unsatisfied", 5 out of the 14 participants in "Nitrite in Water(as Nitrogen)"get a "unsatisfactory". When the robust statistics and classical statistical method are unable to make objective evaluations respectively, this method could mildly remove outliers and avoid the extreme evaluation of "all satisfied"or "all dissatisfied", which truly reflected the real ability of each participant and could be applied to the proficiency testing activity with low number of participants.

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Proficiency Testing in EMC Surge Immunity

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Proficiency Testing in EMC Surge Immunity

Design, Implementation, and Evaluation of Proficiency Testing in EMC Conducted Immunity

Interlaboratory comparisons and proficiency testing are receiving increasing attention by electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) test and calibration laboratories due to the need for accreditation according to ISO/IEC 17025. In EMC, the proficiency testing offer is restricted to a few test standards, mostly emission. In order to increase this offer, we recently developed a novel equipment that enables the assessment of the test capabilities of laboratories for IEC 61000-4-5 (surge immunity). This article presents an overview of this reference equipment and its capabilities, as well as the interlaboratory comparison recently realized in Switzerland.

A New Proficiency Testing (PT) Evaluation for Conformity Assessment of Roughness Measuring Instruments

Precise surface roughness measurement is crucial as it has a direct effect on surface quality. In this work, Proficiency Testing (PT), which is an important process for conformity assessment, was conducted based on a portable roughness tester as a standard measuring instrument. There were seven calibration laboratories from Thailand that participated in the PT with a technical protocol that was designed by NIMT. The roughness tester was provided by NIMT. Two roughness standards with different roughness values (Ra ≤1 and Ra >1) were prepared by each calibration laboratory. The PT measurands were common roughness parameters such as Ra and Rsm. As the roughness measuring instrument is based on LVDTs, we propose here a new proficiency testing evaluation which involves the calibration of the measuring instrument in the PT evaluation procedure. The PT results, according to ISO/IEC 17043, shows that six out of the seven participating laboratories indicated satisfactory performance (|En| ≤ 1) where the measurement uncertainty was based on a 95% confidence level. The PT results and evaluation procedure for conformity assessment of the roughness measuring instrument are presented. Finally, measurement techniques to improve measurement quality are recommended.

Proposed the ANOVA Method for Analysis of Proficiency Test Result

Analysis of variance “ANOVA”, as a trustful statistical method most commonly applied to the results of the experiment to determine the percent contribution of each factor, is used in this paper in comparison with Z-score statistical method. Z-score, Zeta score, and En number are the most credible statistical methods used in proficiency testing evaluation. In this paper four different PT examples were demonstrated, both ANOVA as well as Z-score were used for the analysis of the testing. The first example showed a consistency of the results between both of them, however in the other three examples dissimilarity happened between the two results. While Z-score gave the participant laboratory a satisfactory result, ANOVA gave the same laboratory unsatisfactory result. Final results showed the advantage and reliability of ANOVA analysis over Z-score analysis.

Evaluation of proficiency testing results taking into account their uncertainties

A new composite score for the evaluation of performance of proficiency testing participants is proposed. The score is based on a combination of the z-score, uncertainty of a participant’s measurement result and uncertainty of the proficiency testing scheme’s assigned value. The use of such a composite score will allow evaluation not only of the participant’s ability to determine an analyte in corresponding matrix, but also their understanding of the uncertainty in the obtained analytical result. The score may be helpful for the laboratory’s quality system and for laboratory accreditation according to ISO 17025.

Evaluation of proficiency testing as a method of assessing competence to screen cervical smears.

Regular proficiency testing of pathologists and cytotechnologists who undertake the analysis of cervical smears has been carried out in cytology laboratories in the North Thames (West) region since 1989. The protocol followed is one that has been adopted nationally. Since the scheme started, laboratory personnel from 17 cytology laboratories in the Region have participated and seven rounds of testing have been completed. Nine hundred and seventy-one tests were carried out and a pass rate of 96.4% was recorded. Two hundred and forty-seven cytologists took the test on at least one occasion and 63 cytologists took part in all seven rounds. Our results indicate that proficiency testing is capable of detecting cytologists who consistently perform below an acceptable standard and require retraining. They also show that even the most competent screeners can miss an abnormal smear. Seven cytologists who had proved their competence to screen on six occasions, missed an abnormal smear on the seventh, despite the fact that they were screening under test conditions when their vigilance should have been at its peak. Our findings indicate that false-negative reporting will inevitable occur during manual screening, and emphasize the need for further research into the causes and prevention of screening error.