Annual Report on the External Quality Assessment Scheme for Clinical Chemistry in Korea (2014)

ABSTRACT

The Clinical Chemistry subcommittee of The Korean Association of External Quality Assessment Service conducted external quality assessments in 2014. This included general chemistry and blood gas measurements as part of a scheme of six trials, comprising of three samples each. All control materials were sent at the same time. The overall response rates were 93.4% for general chemistry and 90.0% for blood gas. The parameters tested included sodium, potassium, chloride, blood urea nitrogen, glucose, calcium, phosphorus, uric acid, creatinine, bilirubin, total protein, albumin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, AST, ALT, alkaline phosphatase, lactate dehydrogenase, gamma glutamyl transferase, HDL cholesterol, and LDL cholesterol for general chemistry and pH, partial pressure of carbon dioxide, and partial pressure of oxygen for blood gas assessment. Two types of reports were generated, namely, a method summary report including mean, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation, for each test method, as well as a result summary report of each participating laboratory, including mean, standard deviation, number of peer groups, and standard deviation index and variance index scores of each laboratory. The overall quality performance in 2014 was similar to that of previous years and as compared to results from 2013, the inter-laboratory variation was lower. The requisite continual improvement in the quality of clinical chemistry testing can be achieved through participation in similar proficiency testing programs.