Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA)
Buchta, Christoph Marrington, Rachel De la Salle, Barbara Albarède, Stéphanie Albe, Xavier Badrick, Tony Berghäll, Heidi Bullock, David Cobbaert, Christa M Coucke, Wim
Buchta, Christoph
Marrington, Rachel
De la Salle, Barbara
Albarède, Stéphanie
Albe, Xavier
Badrick, Tony
Berghäll, Heidi
Bullock, David
Cobbaert, Christa M
Coucke, Wim
Affiliation
Austrian Association for Quality Assurance and Standardization of Medical and Diagnostic Tests; University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust; UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme (UK NEQAS) for Haematology; Centre Toulousain pour le Contrôle de qualité en Biologie Clinique; EQALM Virtual Microscopy Working Group; Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Program; Labquality; Leiden University; EFLM Task Force on European Regulatory Affairs; Sciensano; Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d'Essais; Reference Institute for Bioanalytics; University Hospital of Innsbruck; Rigshospitalet-Glostrup; National Measurement Laboratory; University of Surrey; University of Szeged; INSTAND e.V. Society for Promoting Quality Assurance in Medical Laboratories; Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Diagnostik mbH; Technische Universität München; ECAT Foundation; SOD Sicurezza e Qualità AOU Careggi; The Norwegian Organization for Quality Improvement of Laboratory Examinations; Foundation for Quality Assessment in Laboratory Medicine; Radboud Medical Center; Weqas; Institut für Qualitätssicherung in der Virusdiagnostik; University of British Columbia
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Publication date
2025-01-06
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Abstract
Providers of external quality assessment (EQA) programs evaluate data or information obtained and reported by participant laboratories using their routine procedures to examine properties or measurands in samples provided for this purpose. EQA samples must offer participants an equal chance to obtain accurate results, while being designed to provide results in clinically relevant ranges. It is the responsibility of the EQA provider to meet the necessary requirements for homogeneity, stability and some other properties of the EQA items in order to offer participants a fair, reliable and technically interesting EQA experience. Thus, the samples are at the heart and in the centre of EQA and its success depends on their quality. This manuscript describes the requirements for EQA samples and the activities of EQA providers to achieve them.
Citation
Buchta C, Marrington R, De la Salle B, Albarède S, Albe X, Badrick T, Berghäll H, Bullock D, Cobbaert CM, Coucke W, Delatour V, Geilenkeuser WJ, Griesmacher A, Henriksen GM, Huggett JF, Juhos I, Kammel M, Luppa PB, Meijer P, Pelanti J, Pezzati P, Sandberg S, Spannagl M, Thelen M, Thomas A, Zeichhardt H, Restelli V, Perrone LA. Behind the scenes of EQA - characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA). Clin Chem Lab Med. 2025 Jan 6;63(5):868-878. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2024-1291.
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Article