Educational Aspects Of Proficiency Testing Programs

Proficiency testing programs (PTPs) have long been recognized as a tool that accreditation bodies and regulatory authorities (regulators) use to determine whether laboratories perform tests with acceptable results. PTPs can have additional purposes. This paper argues that PTPs should be perceived and overtly promoted as tools for laboratories to use as part of their quality assurance and continuous improvement efforts, and not simply a tool of regulators to pass or fail a laboratory. That is, PTPs have an educational component which, if realised, can lead to tangible improvements in laboratory performance. Since this is one of the underlying benefits of accreditation, there is an inherent link between the aims of laboratory accreditation and that of educationallydriven PTPs.