Tuesday 30 November 2010

Real-time inter-laboratory comparison quality reports

HORIBA Medical has introduced an upgrade to its external worldwide inter-laboratory quality control programme (QCP) for haematology and clinical chemistry analysers. QCP version II enables users to submit internal Quality Control (QC) results online to evaluate the accuracy and precision of their analysers via real-time peer group statistical reports from QCP. This intuitive online inter-laboratory comparison service for Proficiency Testing is also fully customisable.

Pathology laboratories are encouraged by regulation and accreditation organisations to participate in inter-laboratory comparison surveys (Proficiency Testing) for the assessment of the analytical performance of their in vitro diagnostic analysers. QCP aims to inform the user how they compare to their peer group for both haematology and clinical chemistry analysis using routinely run quality control results. Participation can enhance the laboratory’s performance in mandatory external surveys.

QCP enables automatic upload of QC data from haematology analysers via a USB key from the data management system. No manual data input is necessary. Immediately after the upload, six statistical reports are generated in real-time. These unique features, in combination with intelligent and intuitive interfaces, make QCP a highly effective online inter-laboratory comparison tool for both haematology and clinical chemistry. This enables users to meet regulatory requirements and detect in real-time any gradual or sudden quality changes.

Via its six statistical online reports delivered in real-time, QCP provides a very broad range of clearly displayed useful data, including all peer comparison, performance indices and Levey-Jennings Charts. Since QCP is fully customisable, peer comparisons can be broken down into three groups – World, Country and Specific. Furthermore, all reports and submitted data are stored and available online for 24 months.

HORIBA Medical