Quality control by blind sample analysis.
Quality control efforts may be biased consciously or unconsciously. External programs are handicapped by the time lapse before poor performance is disclosed. Bias induced into internal and external quality control efforts by special handling may be eliminated through submission of blind samples originating from wards, clinics, or phlebotomy areas. Evaluation of laboratory performance is obtained under conditions similar to those experienced by the patients' specimens. Calibration performance by operators, which varies considerably, can be monitored. Laboratory clerical activity can be scrutinized and errors quantitated and corrected. Perhaps most important, the sum of the effects of specimen handling and analytic variability can be determined.