Ensuring diagnostic testing accuracy for patient care and public health- COVID-19 testing scale-up from an EQA provider's perspective.

ABSTRACT: In response to the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and scale up of diagnostic testing, the Canadian Microbiology Proficiency Testing program created a new proficiency testing (PT) program for the molecular and antigen detection of SARS-CoV-2. The program was geared to point of care testing (POCT) sites located in each of the eight provincial Health Authorities across British Columbia, Canada, with the intention to monitor testing quality. The PT program consisted of 6 shipments in a year, each containing a set of 4 samples either positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus or negative. The program began with initial 23 sites enrolling in March 2021, expanding to >100 participants by December 2021. After the first two surveys, it was observed that testing performance (accuracy) was consistently acceptabl

SUBMITTER: Restelli V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10699598 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature