For countries banning MDR specimens, certain other strains with predetermined resistance to antibiotics can be sent for proficiency testing.
The panel decided that XDR strains should not be sent anywhere for proficiency testing but that MDR strains could be sent to countries that approve their entry and that have proper safety equipment.
To guarantee the measurement quality for clearance level in solid waste material, the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research INERR) established the criteria for proficiency testing of clearance level measurement.
References. 1. Ehrmeyer SS, Laessig RH, Leinweber JE, Oryall JJ: 1990 Medicare/CLIA final rules for proficiency testing: minimum intralaboratory performance characteristics (CV and bias) needed to pass.
Laboratories at Mahidol University and CDC acted as reference laboratories by providing samples for proficiency testing among laboratories and for assembling and validating the evaluation panel.
In the 2000, 2002, and the 2003 Diabetes Antibody Standardization Program (DASP) for proficiency testing, the sensitivity/specificity results for the GAD65 assay were 84%/96%, 90%/93%, and 84%/98% and for the ICA512 assay were 52%/100%, 62%/99%, and 58%/100%, respectively.
We used a total of 10 samples for each round of the scheme as has been suggested as the adequate number of cases for proficiency testing in this area of pathology (Thunnissen et al, 2011).
Disadvantages are greater expense and the lack of requirement for proficiency testing; thus, there is very limited objective data regarding performance in patient care and potential lack of precision in the hands of those who use them.
