A ringtest is part of an external quality assurance

Quality Assurance

Quality assurance, or QA for short, is the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various aspects of a project, service or facility to maximize the probability that minimum standards of quality are being attained by the production process...

 programme for a measuring method. Usually a reference institute sends identical samples which have to be analysed for special parameters to different laboratories. The industrial, medical or research laboratory

Laboratory

A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...

 gets a limited time with a deadline to send in the analysis results. The statistical evaluation and interpretation of the laboratories’ results is a great help for all participating labs as it opens the possibility to assess the quality of their analysis compared to other laboratories. For accredited laboratories (e.g. ISO 17025 etc.) the participation in ringtests is obligatory. Nevertheless, also non accredited labs take part in ringtests.

Fields of application

• tests of medical parameters (blood
  Blood
  Blood is a specialized bodily fluid in animals that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells....
  
  , urine
  Urine
  Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
  
  , tissue
  Biological tissue
  Tissue is a cellular organizational level intermediate between cells and a complete organism. A tissue is an ensemble of cells, not necessarily identical, but from the same origin, that together carry out a specific function. These are called tissues because of their identical functioning...
  
   etc.)
• food analysis
• material analysis
• paternity
  Paternity (law)
  In law, paternity is the legal acknowledgment of the parental relationship between a man and a child usually based on several factors.At common law, a child born to the wife during a marriage is the husband's child under the "presumption of legitimacy", and the husband is assigned complete rights,...
  
  testing (autosomal DNA markers, Y and X chromosomal markers, mtDNA sequencing)

External links

• American Association of Blood Banks
• German Society for Forensic Medicine
• German DNA Profiling Group - Commission of Institutes for Forensic Medicine and Federal State Police Science Labs
• International Society for Forensic Genetics with German, English, Spanish & Portuguese, Japanese, Chinese, French, Italian speaking working groups