Journal Information
Journal ID (publisher-id): BM
Journal ID (nlm-ta): Biochem Med (Zagreb)
Title: Biochemia Medica
Abbreviated Title: Biochem. Med. (Zagreb)
ISSN (print): 1330-0962
ISSN (electronic): 1846-7482
Publisher: Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine
Article Information
Copyright statement: ©Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine.
Copyright: 2022, Croatian Society of Medical Biochemistry
License (open-access):
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Date received: 01 March 2022
Date accepted: 01 April 2022
Publication date (print and electronic): 15 June 2022
Volume: 32
Issue: 2
Electronic Location Identifier: 020711
Publisher ID: bm-32-2-020711
DOI: 10.11613/BM.2022.020711
Integrating moving average control procedures into the risk-based quality control plan in small-volume medical laboratories
Author notes:
[*] Corresponding author: veralukic.lab@gmail.com
Introduction
The modern approach to quality control (QC) in medical laboratories implies the development of a risk-based control plan. This paper aims to develop a risk-based QC plan for a laboratory with a small daily testing volume and to integrate the already optimized moving average (MA) control procedures into this plan.
Materials and methods
A multistage bracketed QC plan for ten clinical chemistry analytes was made using a Westgard QC frequency calculator. Previously, MA procedures were optimized by the bias detection simulation method.
Results
Aspartate aminotransferase, HDL-cholesterol and potassium had patient-risk sigma metrics greater than 6, albumin and cholesterol greater than 5, creatinine, chlorides, calcium and total proteins between 4 and 5, and sodium less than 4. Based on the calculated run sizes and characteristics of optimized MA procedures, for 6 tests, it was possible to replace the monitoring QC procedure with an MA procedure. For the remaining 4 tests, it was necessary to keep the monitoring QC procedure and introduce MA control for added security.
Keywords: risk-based quality control plan; QC frequency; run size; patient-risk sigma metrics; patient-based real-time quality control
