Quality control by blind sample analysis.

Area of Science:

• Clinical Laboratory Science
• Quality Management in Healthcare

Background:

• Quality control (QC) in laboratories can be subject to conscious or unconscious bias.
• External QC programs face delays in identifying performance issues.
• Special handling of samples can introduce bias into both internal and external QC processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To eliminate bias in laboratory quality control.
• To evaluate laboratory performance under realistic patient-related conditions.
• To monitor operator calibration performance and laboratory clerical activities.

Main Methods:

• Submission of blind samples from clinical areas (wards, clinics, phlebotomy).
• Simulating patient specimen conditions for laboratory evaluation.
• Quantifying and correcting errors in clerical activities and specimen handling.

Main Results:

• Bias in QC efforts can be identified and potentially eliminated.
• Laboratory performance evaluation reflects real-world patient specimen scenarios.
• Operator calibration variability and clerical errors can be monitored and addressed.

Conclusions:

• Blind sample submission is a viable strategy to mitigate QC bias.
• This approach provides a comprehensive assessment of laboratory operational integrity.
• It allows for the determination of combined specimen handling and analytical variability effects.