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Introduction: Quality indicators (QIs) are important for the monitoring and evaluation of laboratory performance at pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical phases. Errors in the laboratory arise more frequently before and after the analysis of samples. The total testing process (TTP) therefore needs to be evaluated for good laboratory performance. A good quality indicator should give information about the performance of a process, thereby governing the quality of services.Objective: To analyse TTP and QIs for a period of six years of screening of laboratory performance.Methods: This retrospective analysis was conducted for the period 2017 to 2022. QIs at pre-analytical (12), analytical (04) and post-analytical (03) phases were defined and analysed on a monthly basis. The laboratory followed the guidelines of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 15189:2012 to identify errors in all sections.Results: A total of 259,694 samples were received during the study period. A total of 628,817 tests were performed. The overall error rate was 1.25/1000 tests. Error in the pre-analytic phase was 0.96/1000 tests, the commonest being haemolysed samples. Error in the analytical phase was 0.33/1000 tests. The error of postanalytical phase was 0.48/1000 tests with turn round time (TAT) outliers being the commonest.Conclusion: Amongst all phases of QIs, errors were minimum in the analytical phase. Continuous monitoring and analysis of QIs helps in identification of common errors in the laboratory. Corrective measures will help to improve quality of the laboratory services, and hence the patient outcome. Regular training, evaluation of technical staff, regular preventive maintenance and calibration of all analytical instruments helps in reducing the errors.
Patel et al. (Mon,) studied this question.