Whether you are meeting your accreditation requirements or working to improve your performance, participation in proficiency testing is a valuable continuous improvement tool.
What Is Proficiency Testing?
Proficiency testing involves a group of laboratories or analysts performing the same analyses on the same samples and comparing results. The key requirements of such comparisons are that the samples are homogenous and stable, and also that the set of samples analyzed are appropriate to test and display similarities and differences in results.
Proficiency Testing (comparative testing) is an important way of meeting the requirements of ISO 15189, ISO/IEC 17025 in the area of quality assurance of laboratory results. It is also mandated by accreditation bodies that laboratories participate in proficiency testing programs for all types of analyses undertaken in that laboratory, when suitable programs exist.