Progress and analytic goals in clinical chemistry

The data that have been accumulated by the Survey program of the College of American Pathologists for analysis of 12 serum constituents for the five-year period 1969-1973 are reviewed. The data include approximately 2 million individual analyses provided by the majority of the clinical laboratories in the United States. The data show clear evidence of progressive improvement. The values reported by the participants for each analysis have agreed more closely in each successive year. The improvements have stemmed partly from improved performance of individual methods and partly from increased use of methods with good precision. Closer standardization between laboratories may have played a role. The findings are used for proposing a set of goals for the analysis of these constituents in serum. Comparison of the goals with the actual levels of current performance shows that for many analyses the current levels are adequate, while for others the current levels fall short of the desired goals. Achieving the goals from some analyses may be beyond the present limits of the technology of clinical laboratory analysis.