From Fear to Freedom: A QC Data Management Revolution
From Fear to Freedom: A QC Data Management Revolution
What if we told you we had a solution to the multitude of monotonous hours spent analysing reams of IQC data and could provide you with an intuitive tool packed with comprehensive and customisable reports, interactive charts, and automated statistical analysis to help improve your QC data management?
Perhaps it sounds too good to be true?
This time, it isn’t.
Uncertainty of Measurement. 6Sigma. QC Multi-rules. These words can strike fear into the hearts of even the most experienced laboratory staff.
With Acusera 24.7, we’ve reached under the bed and forced the monster that is advanced statistical analysis out into the cold.
Acusera 24.7 is a live, cloud-based, interlaboratory QC data management and peer group comparison software.
A mouthful. I know.
But let’s break it down.
A live, cloud-based software means you can access your QC data from anywhere, anytime.
Bid farewell to the labyrinth of folders you hunt through when troubleshooting or looking for a specific dataset.
Interlaboratory management describes the momentous task many QC managers face – monitoring the QC performance of multiple laboratories in different locations, ensuring they all maintain the high standards required for accreditation and accurate patient results.
Unlike some big-name subscription services, we encourage you to use our software at different locations to help you monitor all your laboratories and instruments to see how their results stack up against one another.
Acusera 24.7 provides multiple levels of access which are completely customisable. This allows you to grant or restrict access to different parts of the software depending on what is required by your staff. This also allows QC managers to view data from all their sites in one location without needing multiple email chains from each laboratory.
Peer group comparison? Isn’t that what EQA is for?
Well, you would be right.
Yes, EQA does provide a comparison with your peer group, but it doesn’t have exclusive rights.
There are many benefits to comparing your IQC data with your peer group. The real-time comparison data aids with troubleshooting, or you can show off how great you are to your friends and colleagues.
You can select your peer group for an instrument, method and more, providing you with a comprehensive picture of how your laboratory performance compares to your peers using the same lot of control.
There are no submission deadlines. One less thing for you to worry about.
Still think it sounds too good to be true?
Then let’s look at some of the software features and how they can be used to make your daily QC data management easier.
Charts
For many laboratories, review of their QC data is a momentous task involving an abundance of printouts with different data tables and graphs and hastily scribbled notes going back maybe months, if not years.
With Acusera 24.7’s interactive Levey-Jennings charts, you can see the QC data from a specified date range. This helps visualise trends and biases over any period to simplify the troubleshooting and lot validation processes, or, can be used as evidence during accreditation assessments. These charts can be generated for a single analyte or for multiple analytes and QC levels.
You can also add events to the graph to record factors that might impact the performance of your analyser such as preventive maintenance, calibrations or switching QC lots. So, when you come to review the QC data and see a shift in the results, you can see at a glance if there was an explanation for the change in QC results.
What’s more, the points plotted on the chart will appear in orange or red if they trigger your alert or reject protocols respectively. Those that appear as a triangle indicate a comment is attached. Comments can be added to any data point directly on the Levey-Jennings chart, allowing you to record any information relevant to the data, saving you time, not to mention the cost of all those sticky notes.

This complements the Panel feature of the software. Within Acusera 24.7 you can create a panel of tests, for example, a Liver Function Test panel, grouping all the tests together. You can then view all the QC data for this panel at the click of a few buttons. Shown below is the collective data for a clinical chemistry panel.

When you do need the paper copy, all the charts and reports found in Acusera 24.7 can be exported to Excel or PDF for independent analysis or printing, making it easy to bring your data to meetings or for hardcopy filing and audits.
For peer group comparison, you can get a performance summary chart. This chart basically does the analysis for you! You define the date and time range, and the software looks at all the data points within it for you and your peer group, comparing individual data, means, CVs and SDs. Like our other charts, you can combine any number of these for multi-analyte analysis.

Advanced Statistics
Some people love statistics. Others can think of nothing worse.
Either way, there’s a lot of work involved in advanced statistical analysis.
Even if you’re in the love camp, you might find yourself sickened before you’ve finished this metaphorical jar of marmite.
The role of a pathology laboratory is not to run QC and show off their statistical skills, but to provide accurate and appropriate patient results.
As the old saying goes, time is money.

But in your case, time is the difference between a fast or delayed diagnosis for a patient.
This may impact their condition or treatment.
By making use of the suite of statistical options included in Acusera 24.7, including QC Multi-rules, 6Sigma and Uncertainty of Measurement, you can focus on providing the most accurate and efficient testing for patients.

Data Entry
To save even more time, Acusera 24.7 can be integrated with many LIMS or Middleware packages for fully automated data transfer. At a predefined time, your internal software will send your QC data to a shared folder on your network and from there to a Randox Cloud IP address, meaning we don’t go into your IT system and take anything; we won’t cause any information security problems. This data is then taken from the cloud and populated onto 24.7.
All this in less time than it takes you to say, ‘fully automated data transfer.’
You can also import your data through a semi-automated upload procedure. For this, the data is exported from your LIMS or middleware and imported manually to your Acusera 24.7 account using an EDI import file. Simply put, all you have to do is send the file, and the software will populate it onto the system. Alternatively, you can upload the data manually on the simple and intuitive data entry page.
Acusera 24.7, while comprehensive and initially daunting due to its vast array of features, is incredibly easy to use. The Acusera 24.7 and QC operations teams are always eager to help new and existing Acusera 24.7 users with any issues they experience. We provide complete onboarding assistance and full training on the software for new customers while delivering prompt and effective customer support for existing users.
We’ve only begun to cover the range of features available on Acusera 24.7 for QC data management! For more information or to arrange a demo, get in touch with our team at marketing@randox.com. Or, you can take a look at our website here.
RIQAS Standard Report
There are a variety of RIQAS reports designed to enable quick and easy identification of any trends or test system issues. The standard quantitative report is provided in a user-friendly, one page per parameter format allowing a visual, at-a-glance assessment of performance. The standard quantitative report is split into several easy to interpret subsections each designed to save valuable laboratory time.
You can explore each of the report sections using the table below. Don’t forget, to enlarge the image, simply click on it.
RIQAS EQA Reports
RIQAS Reports Features
The text section provides a statistical breakdown of results by all methods, your method and instrument group. The Mean, CV% and Uncertainty or Measurement is presented for each comparison group.
Your laboratory’s result is compared to the Mean for Comparison (usually the instrument group Mean). Also included are the RIQAS performance indicators; SDI, Target Score and %Deviation.
Acceptable performance criteria:
- SDI <2
- Target Score >50
- %Deviation
The defined acceptable limits default to the RIQAS TDPA values but may be based on CLIA, biological variation or country specific limits.
Performance goals based on Biological Variation are also stated within the text section for information purposes.
The histogram chart provides an overview of how your laboratory’s result compares to the all method group, your method group and your instrument group. Your result is represented by a black triangle; the closer to the centre the better.
The chart is intended to provide a quick visualisation of performance compared to other method groups and can be used to identify any potential bias.
The Levey-Jennings chart plots the last 20 SDI’s and is extremely useful for monitoring EQA performance over time, allowing quick and easy identification of any trends or bias. The chart is colour coded making interpretation simple and easy; results that fall in the white area are excellent and those in the red area unacceptable.
The Target Score (TS) chart is a unique chart which displays your laboratory’s last 20 target scores delivering an instant, visual indication of performance. The TS chart is conveniently colour coded for even easier performance assessment, a TS >50 is acceptable. The TS is a numerical index relating your %Deviation from the mean to a Target Deviation for Performance Assessment (TDPA).
The %Deviation by sample chart displays the %Deviation for the last 20 EQA samples enabling identification of trends and shifts in performance. Similar to the other charts on the RIQAS report, the %Deviation by sample chart is shaded to indicate the limit of acceptable performance. A black dot within the white section of the chart will represent results with a %Deviation within your acceptable limits of performance; a black dot within the red section of the chart will represent results with a %Deviation outside your acceptable limits of performance. %Deviations are not influenced by the performance of your peers, as seen with the standard deviation index (SDI) and therefore is a better indicator of individual performance.
The %Deviation by concentration chart enables easy detection of possible concentration related biases. Unlike the other charts provided on the report, the %Deviation by concentration chart displays the concentration range of the previous 20 samples along the bottom of the chart.
Using this scale along with the percentage deviation, you are provided with a rapid assessment of your %Deviation in relation to the concentration of the:
• Current sample (represented by a square)
• Your 19 previous results (represented by circles)
This chart provides an easy interpretation of potential positive or negative biases at high or low concentrations, or whether a particular sample is a random outlier.
Located at the back of the standard quantitative report, our quick reference summary page details the performance for each registered parameter in the programme.
Within the performance column, RIQAS provides an effortless method of assessing the performance of each parameter within the sample distribution. When a red triangle appears next to the parameter, this indicates that all performance indicators (SDI, TS and %DEV) have exceeded the performance criteria.
The performance indicator limits for each parameter are exceeded when your result produces:
• An SDI greater than +/- 2 standard deviations.
• A Target Score less than 50 (only when Target Scoring is available)
• A %Deviation greater than your set acceptable limits of performance.
A summary CSV file is available on request to all participating laboratories. The report provides a summary of all statistics, acceptable limits and performance indicators as a .csv file for each sample in the cycle.
A retrospective statistics summary is also available, four weeks after the final submission date for parameters where a result was not submitted on time.