Quality assessment of measurement

Area of Science:

• Laboratory Medicine
• Occupational and Environmental Health
• Measurement Quality Assurance

Background:

• External quality assessment schemes (EQAS) are crucial for evaluating laboratory performance.
• Variations in EQAS organization lead to inconsistent performance assessments.
• Laboratory personnel and users rely on accurate and reliable measurement results.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance the assessment of measurement quality within EQAS.
• To improve the reliability of laboratory results in occupational and environmental medicine.
• To address inconsistencies in performance evaluation across different EQAS.

Main Methods:

• Development of collaborative projects within the Network of EQAS.
• Establishment of new quality standards derived from biological variation.
• Evaluation of test materials for homogeneity and stability.
• Development of methods for assigning values to test materials.

Main Results:

• New standards based on biological variation were developed to overcome limitations of participant performance-based assessments.
• Test materials were rigorously evaluated for quality and suitability.
• Collaborative efforts have laid the groundwork for improved quality assessment methodologies.

Conclusions:

• The developed standards offer a more robust approach to assessing measurement quality.
• Further collaboration is planned to refine and implement these improved assessment methods.
• Enhanced quality assessment will benefit scheme participants and users of laboratory data.