Interpretation (including advice to the clinician on laboratory requests and diagnosis)

WEQAS has interpretive schemes for both Porphyrin and Immunoassay. In the WEQAS Porphyrin Scheme the analytical and interpretative elements are examined. The following is an example of the clinical information distributed together with an EQA sample.

A blind sample is distributed along with clinical information, e.g. a urine sample with a total porphyrin concentration of 1400 nmol/L was distributed along with the following clinical information: "46-yr-old gentleman complaining of skin fragility and blistering lesions on the backs of his hands."

The correct interpretation is given by an expert advisor and is made available to all participants along with a summary of the responses. Key phrases used by the expert are used to evaluate the responses.

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