What are the topical developments in the PT field

There are many ongoing developments in proficiency testing. Some are:

Accreditation. The accreditation of PT providers is a relatively new area, but although not that many PT providers have been accredited so far, the number is continuing to grow. The EPTIS database lists approximately 150 PT schemes for which their providers have been accredited or otherwise recognised. This figure will certainly increase in the future because of the harmonisation of the requirements for proficiency testing through the international standard (ISO/IEC 17043) and efforts to extend the ILAC multilateral agreement (MLA) to cover accredited PT schemes.

Measurement uncertainty. Today only a few PT schemes outside the metrology area invite or require participant laboratories to provide a statement on the uncertainty associated with their measurement results. There is an increasing trend, which is significantly driven by accreditation to ISO/IEC 17025 , that requires laboratories to be able to provide an uncertainty estimate to their customers on request.

Pre- and post-analytical PT. How do laboratories handle samples that appear damaged on delivery? Which decisions do they take on the basis of their measurement results? Such questions (pre- and post-analytical, respectively) have a long tradition in health care proficiency testing. They are also becoming more prominent in other fields of testing, as well, especially where regular, analytically oriented proficiency testing has already become an established quality assurance tool.

Sampling PT. There are very different sampling requirements and protocols worldwide, due to a lack of harmonisation but also due to differences in legislative requirements between, and even within, countries and regions. Proficiency testing may enable a comparison of various protocols in a qualitative but also in a quantitative way. The relevant assessment statistics, however, are not straightforward, and scoring of the protocol performance is not yet an issue. However, first steps in this new direction are currently being made.