Development and implementation of a novel method for quality control of microscopic examination of urine sediment by urine occult blood analysis

Abstract

We have developed a novel method for quality control of monitoring technical errors in examiners in the microscopic examination of red blood cells in urine sediment. This method is based on the relative ratio of the results determined by medical technologists to those of corresponding urine occult blood analysis in any patient population examined, allowing us to evaluate inter- and intra-examiner variabilities. When it was implemented in laboratory practice on a monthly basis, the coefficients of variation among technologists decreased from 12.4–14.1% to 7.4–10.0% after one year, proving its effectiveness. The novel method for quality control requires neither special equipment nor applications and thus can be easily implemented in daily laboratory practice.