Tweaking Internal Quality Controls for Cost Cutting in Resource Poor Settings

Cost – Cutting on IQC

Abstract

Commercial Internal Quality Control (IQC) materials are used regularly nowadays by most laboratories for ensuring that their test results are accurate, and the equipment used for analysis is functioning optimally. IQC may be procured from the company supplying reagents for a closed system or from an unrelated vendor who is not involved in supplying the equipment or reagents (third-party controls). Most IQC for Complete Blood Count have a short shelf life of up to three months and often the company further restricts the usage to 2-3 weeks after opening the pack or for few hours after reconstitution for coagulation-based assays. Some simple methods can go a long way in increasing the shelf life and enable substantial cost cutting, as we have succeeded in our laboratory for hematology and coagulation.