External Quality Control, continued

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External Quality Control, continued

  • Validated material for the different testing areas in a laboratory (such as chemistry, hematology, and microbiology) are provided several times a year.
  • Participating laboratories test the specimens and return results to the proficiency testing source.
  • The laboratory's performance is then evaluated using the comparative method mean as the target value plus or minus a defined limit.
  • In general, the evaluation report will show:
    • number of laboratories comprising the peer group
    • comparative mean of the group for that particular analyte
    • the laboratory's performance compared to the peer group
    • whether the performance was satisfactory or unsatisfactory