Quality Of Testing Process Research Articles

Evaluation of clinical biochemistry laboratory performance using sigma metrics

Producing a reliable, reproducible, accurate, timely, and correctly interpreted test results by clinical laboratory is very important, since physicians’ decisions mostly depends on it for screening, diagnosis and monitoring diseases. To provide quality report, routinely in all clinical laboratories internal quality control (IQC) and external quality assessment (EQA) programs are done which helps to evaluate and continuously improve analytical quality. Recently new quality assessment (QA) systems, six-sigma became more popular because it offers a different approach to problems. Sigma metrics allow comparison of different processes with each other and thus improving the quality of testing processes. This study was done to evaluate clinical chemistry laboratory performance using sigma metrics. Keywords: Internal quality control, External quality assessment programs, Laboratory, Sigma metrics, Six-sigma.

Autoverification process improvement by Six Sigma approach: Clinical chemistry & immunoassay

ObjectiveThis study examines effectiveness of a project to enhance an autoverification (AV) system through application of Six Sigma (DMAIC) process improvement strategies. Design and methodsSimilar AV systems set up at three sites underwent examination and modification to produce improved systems while monitoring proportions of samples autoverified, the time required for manual review and verification, sample processing time, and examining characteristics of tests not autoverified. This information was used to identify areas for improvement and monitor the impact of changes. ResultsUse of reference range based criteria had the greatest impact on the proportion of tests autoverified. To improve AV process, reference range based criteria was replaced with extreme value limits based on a 99.5% test result interval, delta check criteria were broadened, and new specimen consistency rules were implemented. Decision guidance tools were also developed to assist staff using the AV system. The mean proportion of tests and samples autoverified improved from <62% for samples and <80% for tests, to >90% for samples and >95% for tests across all three sites. The new AV system significantly decreased turn-around time and total sample review time (to about a third), however, time spent for manual review of held samples almost tripled. There was no evidence of compromise to the quality of testing process and <1% of samples held for exceeding delta check or extreme limits required corrective action. ConclusionsThe Six Sigma (DMAIC) process improvement methodology was successfully applied to AV systems resulting in an increase in overall test and sample AV by >90%, improved turn-around time, reduced time for manual verification, and with no obvious compromise to quality or error detection.

Understanding and implementing of individualized quality control plan

Accurate results in clinical laboratory are extremely important for patient safety. Quality control is the effective method to control the quality of testing process and ensure the patient safety. With the development of detection technology, the concept of quality control has changed. Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) has established a committee to formulate guidelines for quality control plan based on risk management in the laboratory, using the technology of risk management to develop individualized quality control plan. This article will introduce the understanding and practice of individualized quality control plan.(Chin J Lab Med, 2017, 40: 907-910) Key words: Quality control; Individualized medicine; Clinical laboratory techniques; Reference values; Total quality management; Laboratories, hospital

TIME-AWARE AND WEIGHTED FAULT SEVERITY BASED METRICS FOR TEST CASE PRIORITIZATION

Test metrics succeed in analyzing the current level of maturity in testing and give a projection on the way to proceed with testing activities by allowing us to set goals and predict future trends. The objective of test metrics is to capture the planned and actual quantities: the effort, time and resources required to complete all the phases of development of the software project. Test case prioritization is an effective and practical technique in regression testing. It schedules test cases in order of precedence that increases their ability to meet some performance goals, such as code coverage, rate of fault detection. In this paper, we present a new metrics, based on varying requirement priorities, test case priorities, test case execution time, and fault severities. The case study illustrates that the rate of "units-of-test-case-priority-satisfied- per-unit-test-case-time" can be increased, and with improvement on testing quality and customer satisfaction. To assess the practicality of our approach, we apply it to a realistic example from the industrial projects. Also we summarize a test process measurement project of TECHZONE™ (Software development Concern with Testing Department) test teams, and analyze the effectiveness of set of metrics for cost, time, and quality to measure the quality of test process based on the results of the proposed metrics.