Simplified approach to uncertainty of measurement in the clinical virology laboratory

Abstract

Medical laboratories are required to ensure the quality of their diagnostic results. Quality assurance procedures include quality assessments (internal and external), quality controls (negative, positive, or internal controls), equipment monitoring, and audits. Quality control data may be used to evaluate the uncertainty of measurement. All clinical virology laboratories require a standard operating procedure detailing their consideration of uncertainty of measurement, as this parameter may impact on the overall quality of diagnostic results as well as the clinical interpretation thereof. This review aims to provide a simplified approach to the concept of uncertainty of measurement, specific for clinical virology laboratories.

HIV‐1 viral load testing in resource‐limited settings: Challenges and solutions for specimen integrity

“…22 Quality assurance procedures can be divided into pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical components. Measurement uncertainty is primarily derived from the pre-analytical and analytical components of the testing procedure (Table 1), 23 with the pre-analytical component being of most relevance to this review.…”