Date: May 07, 2015
Country: Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Peru, South Africa
Arnaud Orelle, IQLS EQA Program Coordinator is in charge of organizing an EQA program in order to determine the proficiency of each participating laboratory for:
-Fluorescent AFB microscopy capacities
-TB culture capacities
-TB/NTM differentiation
-First line DST testing
-Second line DST testing
-Check if acceptance/rejection criteria of the samples are correctly developped and used
-Inter-laboratory comparison
The program will send 10 simulated sputums per lab. The survey is carried out twice a year. The sputum will be of different types.
IQLS is responsible for:
-organizing the preparation, distribution and subsequent receipt of test results for a panel of simulated sputum specimens to each trial lab and a rferee lab on a bi-annual basis
-designing/implementing an on-line data capture system and users manual to capture proficiency results from each laboratory
-performing data anlysis to determine intra and inter laboratory results
-determining grading system to catgorize results from each panel of specimens, and provide a certificate of participation to each laboratory for each round of proficiency testing
-providing the two following reports to each lab and to the client: Overall inter-laboratory report that summarizes results of panel for all participating labs and individual report documenting the performance of that laboratory and specific guidance/corrective actions, as necessary
-providing general and simple laboratory guidance and corrective action plans if improvment is required within the laboratory specific reports
