[Everyday quality control at clinical-biochemical laboratories using chi square test]

Area of Science:

• Laboratory Medicine
• Biostatistics
• Quality Control

Background:

• Ensuring the reliability of laboratory results is crucial for accurate medical diagnosis and treatment.
• Statistical methods are essential tools for monitoring and validating laboratory performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the chi-squared (chi 2) statistical test for quality control in practical laboratory settings.
• To determine if the chi 2 test can reliably indicate the analytical validity of laboratory data.

Main Methods:

• The chi-squared (chi 2) statistical test was applied to analytical series in a practical laboratory setting.
• Data were analyzed based on previous results and monthly totals.
• Patient data were categorized into inpatients and outpatients for comparative analysis.

Main Results:

• The chi-squared (chi 2) test consistently identified analytical series as random sampling, confirming their reliability in most cases.
• Categorizing patients as inpatients or outpatients did not enhance the test's performance.
• Significant variations in reliability were observed among different analytical methods, highlighting superior performance for some.

Conclusions:

• The chi-squared (chi 2) statistical test is a robust tool for ensuring the analytical reliability of laboratory studies.
• The test's ability to confirm random sampling provides unambiguous evidence of result validity.
• Method-specific performance variations underscore the importance of selecting reliable analytical techniques for laboratory quality control.