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Related Experiment Videos

Comparison of laboratory performance with blind and mail-distributed proficiency testing samples.

L C LaMotte, G O Guerrant, D S Lewis

    Public Health Reports (Washington, D.C. : 1974)
    |November 1, 1977
    PubMed
    Summary

    Drug testing laboratories performed well on mailed proficiency samples but poorly on identical patient samples, indicating a need for improved drug testing evaluation methods.

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    Area of Science:

    • Clinical Chemistry
    • Forensic Toxicology
    • Laboratory Medicine

    Background:

    • Proficiency testing (PT) is crucial for ensuring laboratory accuracy in drug testing.
    • The Center for Disease Control (CDC) conducts PT programs for clinical laboratories.
    • Current PT methods may not fully reflect real-world performance in drug analysis.

    Purpose of the Study:

    • To evaluate the performance of clinical laboratories in drug testing under different sample distribution scenarios.
    • To identify limitations in current proficiency testing protocols for drug detection.
    • To propose improvements for laboratory performance evaluation in forensic toxicology.

    Main Methods:

    • Simulated urine samples with known drug content were prepared.
    • Identical samples were sent to participating laboratories via two methods: regular PT mailings and simulated patient specimens.

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  • Laboratory results were compared between the two distribution methods.

    • Main Results:

    • Laboratories generally performed acceptably when samples were distributed as part of the standard PT program.
    • A significant number of laboratories demonstrated poor performance when the identical samples were treated as routine patient specimens.
    • This discrepancy highlights potential issues with how laboratories handle and process PT samples versus actual patient samples.

    Conclusions:

    • Mail-distributed proficiency testing may not accurately represent a laboratory's true performance in clinical drug testing.
    • Limitations exist in current PT programs for detecting drug abuse.
    • The CDC proposes supplementing mail-based PT with monitored, onsite performance evaluations to enhance drug testing accuracy.