Behind the scenes of EQA-characteristics, capabilities, benefits and assets of external quality assessment (EQA)
Buchta, Christoph De la Salle, Barbara Marrington, Rachel Albarède, Stéphanie Badrick, Tony Bicker, Wolfgang Bietenbeck, Andreas Bullock, David Delatour, Vincent Dequeker, Elisabeth
Buchta, Christoph
De la Salle, Barbara
Marrington, Rachel
Albarède, Stéphanie
Badrick, Tony
Bicker, Wolfgang
Bietenbeck, Andreas
Bullock, David
Delatour, Vincent
Dequeker, Elisabeth
Affiliation
Austrian Association for Quality Assurance and Standardization of Medical and Diagnostic Tests; UK National External Quality Assessment Scheme; University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust; Centre Toulousain Pour le Contrôle de Qualité en Biologie Clinique; Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia Quality Assurance Program; FTC Forensic Toxicology Laboratory; MVZ Ärztliche Laboratorien München-Land GmbH; Laboratoire National de Métrologie et D'Essais; Biomedical Quality Assurance Research Unit; Reference Institute for Bioanalytics, Bonn; Erasmus MC University Medical Center; National Measurement Laboratory; University of Surrey; NGO AQALM; INSTAND E.V. Society for Promoting Quality Assurance in Medical Laboratories; GBD Gesellschaft für Biotechnologische Diagnostik MbH; Technische Universität München; Swiss Center for Quality Control; Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt; Technische Universität Braunschweig; Nicolaus Copernicus University; SOD Sicurezza e Qualità AOU Careggi Firenze; Research Institutes of Sweden; Norwegian Organization for Quality Improvement of Laboratory Examinations; Paul-Ehrlich-Institut; University Medical Centre Ljubljana; Foundation for Quality Assessment in Laboratory Medicine ; Radboud Medical Center; Medical University of Vienna; Institut für Qualitätssicherung in der Virusdiagnostik; University of British Columbia
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Publication date
2025-01-06
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Abstract
The main stakeholders in external quality assessment (EQA) programs are the participants, in whose interests these challenges are ultimately organised. EQA schemes in the medical field contribute to improving the quality of patient care by evaluating the analytical and diagnostic quality of laboratory and point-of-care tests (POCT) by independent third parties and, if necessary, pointing out erroneous measurement results and analytical or diagnostic improvement potential. Other benefits include the option of using EQA samples for other important laboratory procedures, such as the verification or validation of in vitro diagnostic medical devices (IVD-MDs), a contribution to the estimation of measurement uncertainty, a means of training and educating laboratory staff through educational EQA programmes or samples, or even for independent and documented monitoring of staff competence, such as on samples with unusual or even exceptional characteristics. Participation in an EQA scheme for beneficiaries like medical, microbiological and histo- and molecular pathology laboratories, users of POCT and self-testing systems as well as National Metrology Institutes, calibration laboratories and reference laboratories that are dedicated to specific tasks and have particular expectations of the EQA scheme are presented here.
Citation
Buchta C, De la Salle B, Marrington R, Albarède S, Badrick T, Bicker W, Bietenbeck A, Bullock D, Delatour V, Dequeker E, Flasch M, Geilenkeuser WJ, van Hellemond J, Huggett JF, Ianovska V, Kaiser P, Kammel M, Kessler A, Laudus N, Luppa PB, Morandi PA, O'Connor G, Panteghini M, Pezzati P, Rosendahl J, Sandberg S, Scheiblauer H, Skitek M, Spannagl M, Stavelin A, Thelen M, Unterberger U, 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):879-897. doi: 10.1515/cclm-2024-1292.
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Article