Revista de Ciencias Médicas de Pinar del Río (Mar 2018)
External assessment of quality in clinical chemistry in Pinar del Río
Abstract
Introduction: the external assessment of the quality of clinical laboratories is compulsory for the good of patients. For years it has not been carried out systematically in Pinar del Río province. Objective: to assess the quality in clinical chemistry laboratories in the provincial health care institutions in Pinar del Río province. Material and method: an external quality assessment was carried out for cholesterol, triglycerides, glucose, urates, creatinine, urea, albumin and total proteins in 21 laboratories of Pinar del Río province. Lyophilized serum controls were sent in the months of October, November, December and January. Comparisons against the controller were verified using Mann Whiney U test for two samples. The values of the units were compared with the reference value by calculating Z. Results: it was observed that 52.3% of the participating laboratories obtained Excellent evaluation; 47.7%, between Good and Fair. From which it follows that more than half of the laboratories are within a satisfactory level of performance. Conclusions: the assessment of creatinine, total proteins and albumin indicate that their results can be totally reliable and transferable; it behaves partially for glycemia, not so for cholesterol, triglycerides, urea and uric acid. It is necessary to continue with programs of this type in order to improve the consistency, in the continuous improvement of quality in the clinical laboratories of Pinar del Río province.
