CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
February 2013—Bio-Rad Laboratories has released three External Quality Assurance Service (EQAS) programs for clinical laboratories and near-patient/point-of-care settings worldwide. They are cardiac markers, ethanol/ammonia, and lipids.
The programs are designed for the quantitative measurement of important markers for assessing cardiac health and risk of failure, normal to abnormal (or toxic) ranges for ethanol and ammonia in serum, and a full range of lipid profile testing in the clinical chemistry laboratory, respectively.
Programs are set up so that one of 12 plasma/serum samples is tested each month throughout a one-year cycle. Test results are included in a monthly report posted online or mailed to participants. Included in the report are statistical analyses and peer group comparisons. A comprehensive end-of-cycle report provides an overall assessment of bias over the entire cycle.