Evaluation of PIMA point-of-care CD4 testing in a large UK HIV service.

Objectives: To evaluate the performance and patient acceptability of the PIMA point-of-care (POCT) CD4 test.

Methods: Parallel POCT and laboratory CD4 testing were performed in newly diagnosed HIV patients and those with chronic infection attending routine or emergency clinics. Demographics, clinical status and time taken for CD4 results to be available were recorded.

'Fifteen percent of microbiology reports are wrong!': further experience with an internal quality assessment and audit scheme.

Infection control teams critically depend on the quality of the diagnostic microbiology laboratories with which they are associated. Internal quality assessment (IQA) by specimen resubmission measures the consistency of laboratory performance and can be adapted for medical audit, but few laboratories appear to include these techniques as part of their quality control procedures. We established an IQA scheme in our bacteriology laboratory in May 1989, and the mean discrepancy rate for the first two years was nearly 15%.

Development of an internal quality assessment scheme in a clinical bacteriology laboratory.

Aim: To develop an internal quality assessment (IQA) scheme in a clinical bacteriology laboratory.

Methods: Over 24 months, 1230 diagnostic specimens, representing 0.42% of laboratory workload, were anonymised and resubmitted for analysis.

An assessment of the Kemble Star 700 sample processor for the automation of complement fixation and ELISA tests in a microbiology laboratory.

A Kemble Robotic sample processor was programmed to perform routine serological tests for microbiology. Accuracy of dispensed volumes was assessed and precision of dilutions was compared with manual methods. An appraisal of time taken to perform complement-fixation and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays by manual and automated methods was undertaken.