External Quality Assessment Schemes

The External Quality Assessment group of the Hospital-University of Bologna (Bologna AOU) - S.Orsola-Malpighi Polyclinic, has been involved for the past 20 years as an independent third-party entity with the technical scientific coordination of External Quality Assessment Programs (VEQ) for all sectors of laboratory analysis.

The Quality System of the VEQ Group is credentialed under the regulation ISO 9001:2000 Standard and is under the patronage of the following organizations: AIOP, SIBIoC, AIPaCMeM, SISET, FISMeLab, the National Order of Biologists, AIC (Italian Celiac Association) and the Small Intestine Association.

Starting this year the VEQ Group has become part of the DigitalPT International EQA Collaboration, a group constituted by 15 International Proficiency Testing Providers operating in North America, South America,
Africa, Caribbean, Australia, and Europe, with Italy. DigitalPT has been involved with world-wide Proficiency Testing for a number of years and counts 5000 participants for a total of 20,000 profiles.

This collaboration stems from the belief that, in the near future, cooperation at the international level will become indispensable to ensure testing quality.

1. Supporting laboratories on their path towards achieving analytical diagnostics excellency, even by offering training courses;
2. Providing participants with the expertise of a team of professionals of renowned national and international competence and placing ourselves as a point of reference for the entire sector;
3. Constantly involving laboratories in teamwork aimed at achieving a common objective;
4. Using collaborations that will enhance established practices, becoming the basis for testing and then proposing innovative models to render them national and international points of reference;