Performance Goals

Choose a performance goal based on:

• Overall consensus group performance.
• Capability of your laboratory.

  Note: Consider choosing performance goals based on the capability of your laboratory. Internal process and operational variables unique to your laboratory can affect overall test imprecision or bias.

Unity Real Time™ online provides three performance goals for Imprecision-BV and Total Error-BV:

• Optimum

  Choose this option when the laboratory can easily attain the desirable performance target.

• Desirable

  This is the most widely accepted performance target.

• Minimum

  Choose this option when the laboratory cannot attain desirable performance with current technology.

  Note: Optimum, Desirable, and Minimum performance goals are calculated using biological variation limits recommended by Dr. Carmen Ricos and others and the quality specification formulas of Dr. Callum Fraser. The works were published in the Scandinavian Journal of Clinical & Laboratory Investigation 1999; 59:491-500 and the Annals of Clinical Biochemistry 1997; 34:8-12. The performance goals are based on suggested correlations between Dr. Fraser's findings and current technology.

The following information provides the suggested initial performance goals based on the laboratory standard deviation index (SDI) and coefficient of variation ratio (CVR). (This information assumes the Bio-Rad consensus group provides an estimate of the capability of existing technology.)

Note: These statistics are provided as a service to assess current interlaboratory performance as a means to set initial analytical goal specifications.

Select bias and imprecision goals based on the SDI and CVR. However, you may select the next level of performance as a target for quality improvement.