The Quality of Laboratory Diagnostic is closely linked to the accuracy of the data provided.
Participation in the Standardization and External Quality Verification Programs ( VEQ ) allows the laboratory professional to:
- compare its processes with those of other professionals in the field;
- have numerical indicators of process and performance;
- monitor and govern the quality of processes in use in order to limit clinical risks, and improve resource efficiency.
Your participation in our Standardization and External Quality Verification Programs enables the Healthcare System to monitor the Quality of Laboratory Diagnostic, to know the procedures in place to harmonize them, in the spirit of the continuous improvement of the service offered, by the participating Laboratory Diagnostics, to health professionals and, ultimately, to the patient.
The laboratory data is in fact the first step to the patient’s journey and, through the reading of the results of this diagnosis, the Healthcare Professional can direct the patient towards the most rapid, appropriate therapeutic diagnostic path (PDTA).
The VEQ programs of the Sicilian Region are, almost completely, produced by the CQRC of the Azienda Ospedaliera Villa Sofia-Cervello, starting from human biological materials and, therefore, are perfectly compatible with all commercially available instrumentations.
The programs are designed from time to time according to the needs arising from the results of previous years and/or anomalies and reports of the scientific community (e.g. see recent FDA warning of errors caused by the influence of Biotin (B7) on the troponin cardiac marker results). This allows to have raw materials of high scientific and commercial value.
The programs are packaged and shipped by the same CQRC realizing a flexible and complete traceability of the routes. This flexibility allows participants to compare real samples, that travel with the strict respect of temperature and that arrive close to their production.
The evaluation of the results of the VEQ programs of the Sicilian Region is carried out by the public CRQ Provider of the Department of Health and, therefore, the objectivity and the third party of the same is guaranteed, as per current rules and guidelines.
As you well know, the External Quality Assurance (VEQ) and Standardization programs work mainly on media of consensus, therefore the large number of participation is a fact of great importance, without which the exercise becomes meaningless.
The CRQ Provider of the Sicilian Region, headed by almost 600 laboratories, is the one that in Italy records the largest number of participants, as the Sicilian Region, since 2012, has had a mandatory and centralized regional participation quality control system.
The technical operating structure (CQRC of the Azienda Ospedaliera Villa Sofia-Cervello)of the CRQ Provider of the Sicilian Region is equipped with a Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, both liquid and gaseous at very high resolution, unique in the national territory, which also prepares reference matrices at known value. VEQ programs based on these matrices make it possible not to depend on the statistical population and to offer programs for the niche and ultra-specific sectors, which are not easily available, such as those needed for all laboratories operating in the field of forensics, occupational toxicology, environmental and clinical and/or under ISO, JC, EFI and other accreditation regime. Finally and last but not least, is the fact that the organization of these programs has no profit and are offered at the sole cost of production, ensuring participants the lowest cost on the market today.
With the hope of continuing to grow together, at the service of the patient, I wish you all good work.
The Head of CRQ Professor Mrs. Francesca Di Gaudio
School of Medicine and Surgery-University of Palermo
