The Lebanese External Quality Assessment Scheme for laboratories: was it worth establishing?

The Lebanese External Quality Assessment Scheme (LEQAS) was established in 2000 with the aim of helping medical laboratories to improve the quality and comparability of their results. Participation in the scheme for hospital and private laboratories, from all over the country, was voluntary. Between the years 2000 and 2003, the participants took part in three series of surveys and were asked to analyze between 10 and 23 clinical chemistry analytes. Their results, revealed in the present study, were assessed using the Variance Index scoring system. At the start of the programme, the overall performance of the participants was unsatisfactory. But as the scheme progressed, and its educational aspects were also emphasized, interest in the scheme increased and overall as well as individual performance were significantly enhanced. The findings of this study, and particularly the improvement in laboratory performance observed during the study period, highlight the importance of establishing the Lebanese External Quality Assessment Scheme, and justify further efforts to expand and strengthen this scheme.