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FAQ-Frequently Asked Questions
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- TOP of Page |
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Already in an EQA?
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Why do I need QAPonline, I am already enrolled in an EQA?
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Most EQA schemes distribute one or more samples at regular intervals and one (sometimes more) staff member completes the tasks and returns their assessments to the EQA provider. The laboratory manager may then distribute the EQA sample among the staff to complete and the manager then compiles their results as an Internal Quality Process. QAPONLINE does things in the opposite way. QAPonline asks each staff member to complete the same tasks and QAPonline then builds the EQA and the IQC process for the laboratory manager. Therefore QAPonline completes 3 tasks in one step - internal staff competency, Internal Quality Control and External Quality Assurance - the way a quality process should be built , from the staff up. - TOP of Page |
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My Results
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Can I take my EQA Results with me?
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Yes you can. Because each enrollment and each reply is logged against your subscription code as well as the company and laboratory, if you leave one laboratory and commence in another, you can still access the results. - TOP of Page |
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Reply Frequency
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Do I have to answer the questions each month?
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The answer is Yes but No. Yes because if you answer the questions in each scheme every month, it only takes about 15 minutes (OK maybe a bit more if you are enrolled in all the schemes) and it allows your supervisor to assess each months submissions. However, QAPOnline was designed to be always available. It allows you to answers questions from previous years if you have just joined a laboratory or if you have been on leave, it allows you catch up when you return. All submissions are reviewed and updated weekly so if you miss out one month, sorry but the questions are still there to be answered. QAPonlines view is that after about 20-30 replies, the Mean and %CV does not change very much and therefore your answers relative to other replies will not alter significantly. - TOP of Page |
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Calculations
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How is my performance calculated?
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All EQA schemes in QAPonline have one key question that the analysis of your performance is calculated. The questions is always a number (even for embryos where each submitted option has weighted and summed to give number out of 100). Because the analysis is a number, QAPonline processes all schemes in the same way. Because each number may have a different range, QAPonline uses Standard Deviation units from the mean as the primary calculation tool. This assumes the data in each scheme is normally distributed and that 66% of all replies will be within 1 standard deviation of the group mean. Simply put, if your reply is within 1 SD of the mean, your performance is OK. - TOP of Page |
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Reply Scatter
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My replies are all over the place, what does this mean?
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In the previous note, an explanation of how your replies are processed was given. If the aim of the exercise is for your reply to be within 1 standard deviation of the mean then some answers will be more than the mean and some answers will be less than the mean. QAPonline would like to see all your answers to be within 1 SD from the mean - half above and half below. Perfect. IF all you answers are within 1 SD of the mean but they are all above or all below the mean then your results demonstrate BIAS. - TOP of Page |
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Peer Reviews
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How does FertAid define Peer Reviews
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All the FertAid schemes operate on a basic level of comparing you reply to the means of all other participants who have registered as a PROFESSIONAL. QAPonline routinely reviews all the professional replies and marks INVALID any reply more than 4 SD from the group mean. By and large this works well but for some schemes e.g. sperm morphology, FetAid has developed a PEER status. Peer participants are derived from 2 groups. One are those a QAP supervisor has marked as a PEER participant to act as a reference to the groups staff. The second, developed in 2010, FertAid may upgrade the status to PEER based upon the length of experience and performance. Any participant having more than 10 years experience AND more than 66% of replies within 1 SD of the group mean may be marked by FertAid as a Peer.
In some schemes, FertAid has invited participants to act as a PEER reviewer. - TOP of Page |
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