Knowledge of internal quality control for laboratory tests among laboratory personnel working in a biochemistry department of a tertiary care center: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Posted on February 20, 2024 By LabLynx Journal articles

In this brief study by Mishra et al. in the Journal of Nepal Medical Association, the level of knowledge of internal quality control (IQC) in the Department of Biochemistry, B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences (BPKIHS), a tertiary care center, is explored. Noting the importance of laboratory quality control and knowledge of IQC to patient outcomes, the authors conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study of its laboratory staff (n=20), asking questions related to "the understanding of the purpose of IQC, the types of control materials, various control charts, how and when IQC should be performed, and interpretations of the Levey-Jennings Chart using the Westgard rule." The authors concluded from their results were inline with other studies conducted in similar environments (25% had adequate knowledge of IQC), their facility had work to do in improving IQC knowledge and quality management systems more broadly. They add: "Hence, providing training opportunities on laboratory IQC can be reflected as a necessity in our current laboratory set-up. This could add value to the knowledge of IQC on laboratory personnel to ensure that the reports generated within the laboratory are accurate, reliable, and reproducible."