A survey of coagulation laboratory practices and satisfaction ratings of member laboratories of the Thailand National External Quality Assessment Scheme for blood coagulation

Abstract

© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Introduction: The Thailand National External Quality Assessment Scheme (NEQAS) for blood coagulation was established in 2005. The objective of this study was to collect data of coagulation laboratory practices and satisfaction of NEQAS member. Methods: Two hundred seventy-six questionnaires were sent to laboratories that are members of NEQAS to obtain data relating to coagulation laboratory practice and satisfaction in 2014. Data from this survey were compared with data from the survey conducted in 2005 to evaluate levels of improvement. Results: Of 276 questionnaires sent, 212 (76.8%) were returned. Improvements were characterized by the number of laboratories that (i) decreased use of 3.8% sodium citrate as anticoagulant; (ii) implemented use of at least two control levels for internal quality control; and (iii) implemented reporting of reference values with results, as well as establishing their own reference range and using geometric mean as the denominator for international normalized ratio calculation. For overall satisfaction, 179 of 206 (86.9%) participant laboratories reported being satisfied or very satisfied. Conclusion: Improvements in coagulation laboratory practices in Thailand were observed in every step of the total testing process. However, additional improvements are still needed, such as determination and use of a local reference range.