The European Organisation of External Quality Assurance Providers in Laboratory Medicine (EQALM) Statement: guidelines for publishing about interlaboratory comparison studies (PubILC)

Abstract

Data and results from interlaboratory comparison (ILC) studies, external quality assessment (EQA) and proficiency testing (PT) activities are important and valuable contributions both to the further development of all disciplines of medical laboratory diagnostics, and to the evaluation and comparison of in vitro diagnostic assays. So far, however, there are no recommendations as to which essential items should be addressed in publications on interlaboratory comparisons. The European Organization of External Quality Assurance Providers in Laboratory Medicine (EQALM) recognized the need for such recommendations, and these were developed by a group of experts. The result of this endeavor is the EQALM Statement on items recommended to be addressed in publications on interlaboratory comparison activities (PubILC), in conjunction with a user-friendly checklist. Once adopted by authors and journals, the EQALM Statement will ensure essential information and/or study-related facts are included within publications on EQA/PT activities.

Keywords:

• Interlaboratory comparison
• external quality assessment
• proficiency testing
• guidelines

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the following persons who provided valuable feedback and advice to establish these recommendations: Stéphanie Albarède (CTCB, Toulouse, France), Irene Biasoli and Luiza Bottino (Controllab, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), Andreas Bietenbeck (DGKL, Division Medical Informatics, Berlin, Germany), Christa Cobbaert (IFCC SD chair and professor in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden, The Netherlands), Wim Coucke (Sciensano, Brussels, Belgium), Barbara De la Salle (UK NEQAS Haematology and Transfusion, West Hertfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust, operating UK NEQAS Haematology and Transfusion, Watford, United Kingdom), Vincent Delatour (Laboratoire National de Métrologie et d’Essais (LNE), Paris, France), EMN TraceLabMed (including aggregated data from 12 members of the European Metrology Network for Traceability in Laboratory Medicine; EMN TraceLabMed is supported by the joint network project 18NET02. EMPIR projects are co-funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and the EMPIR Participating States), Wolf-Jochen Geilenkeuser (formerly RfB, Bonn, Germany), Andrea Griesmacher (Austrian Association for Quality Assurance and Standardization of Medical and Diagnostic Tests (ÖQUASTA), Vienna, Austria), Richard Haggas (UK NEQAS BTLP, West Herts Hospitals NHS Trust, Watford, United Kingdom), Ellis Jacobs (EJ Clinical Consulting, LLC, Teaneck, NJ, USA), István Juhos (University of Szeged, Hungary), Ann Helen Kristoffersen (Noklus, Haraldsplass Deaconess Hospital, Bergen, Norway, and Department of Medical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway), Nele Laudus (CF Network; KU Leuven), Finlay MacKenzie and Rachel Marrington (Birmingham Quality, Birmingham, United Kingdom), Piet Meijer (ECAT Foundation, Voorschoten, The Netherlands), Pierre-Alain Morandi (CSCQ, Geneva, Switzerland), Michael A. Noble (Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Canada), Mariona Panades (SEQC-ML, Barcelona, Spain), Dina Patel (UK NEQAS Immunology, Immunochemistry & Allergy, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Sheffield, United Kingdom), Jonna Pelanti (Labquality, Helsinki, Finland), Paola Pezzati (SOD Sicurezza e Qualità AOU Careggi Firenze, Italy), Constanta Popa (CALILAB, Bucharest, România), Sverre Sandberg (Noklus, Bergen, Norway), Jean-Pascal Siest (Biologie Prospective, Villers-les-Nancy, France), Anne Stavelin (Noklus, Bergen, Norway), Aleksei Tikhonov (Laboratory of Translational Research in Immunotherapy (LRTI), Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France), Dalius Vitkus (Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania).

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.