The harmonization issue in laboratory medicine: the commitment of CCLM

Abstract

The analytical quality of the clinical laboratory results has shown a significant improvement over the past decades, thanks to the joint efforts of different stakeholders, while the comparability among the results produced by different laboratories and methods still presents some critical issues. During these years, Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM) published several papers on the harmonization issue over all steps in the Total Testing Process, training an important number of laboratory professionals in evaluating and monitoring all the criticisms inherent to the pre-analytical, as well as analytical and post analytical phases: from the consensus statement on the most informative testing in emergency setting, to the prevention and detection of hemolysis or to patients identification and tube labeling procedures, as far as to different approaches to harmonize hormones measurements or to describe new reference methods or to harmonize the laboratory report. During these years the commitment of the journal, devoted to the harmonization processes has allowed to improve the awareness on the topic and to provide specific instruments to monitor the rate of errors and to improve patients safety.

Evaluation of the Comparability of Wantai Wan200+ Instrument with Routine Laboratory Assays for 21 Different Analytes

“…In order to guarantee that patients can take advantage of the maximum benefits and the optimal possible treatment using clinical laboratory information, technological advancements in routine laboratory practice are highly recommended. This entails enhancing both the efficiency of laboratory testing and the consistency of results to yield robust and actionable information useful for clinical diagnosis [24].…”