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A survey of coagulation laboratory practices and satisfaction ratings of member laboratories of the Thailand National External Quality Assessment Scheme for blood coagulation
Author(s) -
Chuntarut A.,
Tientadakul P.,
Wongkrajang P.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of laboratory hematology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.705
H-Index - 55
eISSN - 1751-553X
pISSN - 1751-5521
DOI - 10.1111/ijlh.12483
Subject(s) - external quality assessment , medicine , coagulation testing , coagulation , medical physics , pathology
Summary Introduction The Thailand National External Quality Assessment Scheme ( NEQAS ) for blood coagulation was established in 2005. The objective of this study was to collect data of coagulation laboratory practices and satisfaction of NEQAS member. Methods Two hundred seventy‐six questionnaires were sent to laboratories that are members of NEQAS to obtain data relating to coagulation laboratory practice and satisfaction in 2014. Data from this survey were compared with data from the survey conducted in 2005 to evaluate levels of improvement. Results Of 276 questionnaires sent, 212 (76.8%) were returned. Improvements were characterized by the number of laboratories that (i) decreased use of 3.8% sodium citrate as anticoagulant; (ii) implemented use of at least two control levels for internal quality control; and (iii) implemented reporting of reference values with results, as well as establishing their own reference range and using geometric mean as the denominator for international normalized ratio calculation. For overall satisfaction, 179 of 206 (86.9%) participant laboratories reported being satisfied or very satisfied. Conclusion Improvements in coagulation laboratory practices in Thailand were observed in every step of the total testing process. However, additional improvements are still needed, such as determination and use of a local reference range.