Development of criteria for the evaluation of reference method values

Abstract

We present a uniform concept for the requirements of reference methods (RMs) used for target-setting in the German external quality assessment (EQA) scheme. It is proposed that the total allowable error (TAE) of the RMs shall be 0.2 times the acceptance limits in the EQA-scheme. From the TAE are derived limits for maximum RM-bias, RM-imprecision, and the number of measurements.

Key Words:

• external quality assessment
• target value
• total allowable error
• confidence interval