Laboratory Internal Quality Control Research Articles

Use of data from patients in assessing interlaboratory proficiency and for quality control

Summary 1. The use of patients' data in evaluating laboratory proficiency and for laboratory quality control was examined. 2. Twenty laboratories undertook to provide, semi-monthly, for ten months, 100 results of routine determinations each of glucose, urea nitrogen, and uric acid on sera from unselected patients. Concurrently, these same determinations were made on six check samples. 3. We conclude that patients' data are not sufficiently sensitive for proficiency evaluation, but that they are potentially an extremely powerful tool for internal laboratory quality control.