quality management
Quality management ensures that an organization, product or service consistently functions well. It has four main components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and quality improvement. Quality management is focused not ...
is part of an external quality assurance programme for a measuring method. Ringtest is also called proficiency test or interlaboratory test. Usually a reference institute sends identical samples which have to be analyzed for special parameters to different laboratories. The industrial, medical or research
laboratory
A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...
gets a limited time with a deadline to send in the analysis results. The statistical evaluation and interpretation of the laboratories’ results is a great help for all participating labs as it opens the possibility to assess the quality of their analysis compared to other laboratories. Participation in ringtests is obligatory for accredited laboratories (e.g. according to ISO 17025, etc.). Nevertheless, non-accredited laboratories can also take part in ringtests.
Fields of application
* tests of medical parameters (
blood
Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the cir ...
,
urine
Urine is a liquid by-product of metabolism in humans and in many other animals. Urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the urinary bladder. Urination results in urine being excreted from the body through the urethra.
Cellular ...
paternity
Paternity may refer to:
*Father, the male parent of a (human) child
*Paternity (law), fatherhood as a matter of law
* ''Paternity'' (film), a 1981 comedy film starring Burt Reynolds
* "Paternity" (''House''), a 2004 episode of the television seri ...
testing (autosomal DNA markers, Y and X chromosomal markers, mtDNA sequencing)