External Quality Assessment Survey for Hematological Laboratories in Mongolia

• External Quality Assessment Survey for Hematological Laboratories in Mongolia

AUTHOR(S)

Artbazar BAYARZAYA^＊１, Sukhee ENKHZAYA^＊１, Gurjav NARAN^＊１ and
Atsushi SHIRAKAMI^＊２

*1 The Referral laboratory in Hematology, Shastin Central Hospital
*2 Scientific Affairs, Sysmex Corporation

SUMMARY

To evaluate the inter-laboratory variation of CBC parameters among hematology laboratories in Mongolia, we first set up the External Quality Assessment ( EQA ) scheme, called " Mongolian External Quality Assessment Scheme ( MEQAS ) for Hematology " in the national capital ( Ulaanbaatar ) region in 2008, under organization of Ministry of Health. Control blood and fresh whole blood were used to investigate the effectiveness of survey materials for the national and local EQA scheme, where a wide range of technology and methods are implemented among laboratories. The number of participants has been increasing ; 56 for 1^st, 90 for 2^nd and 106 for 3^rd MEQAS in 2008 and 2009. To evaluate each laboratory's result, we divided into 2 peer groups ( G1 : automated hematology analyzer, G2 : manual method ) and calculate standard deviation index ( SDI ) based on peer group mean and group SD. The ratio of G1 : Auto and G2 : Manual were 61% and 39%, respectively in the 3^rd MEQAS. 3 units of standard hematology analyzers were used for validating the accuracy of peer group mean and monitoring the quality of survey materials. The peer group mean for CBC 5 parameters of G1: Auto were very close to the target values assigned by the standard analyzers. As for the inter-laboratory variation,
G1 : Auto showed smaller CV% values than G2 : Manual ( e.g. 3.8% ( G1 ) and 7.3% ( G2 ) for HGB ). From these surveys, we obtained a good reference and clues for future laboratory improvement.

KEY WORDS

Complete Blood Count, External Quality Assessment ( EQA ), Hematology