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Objective: To explore content experts' experiences with item vetting during item bank development at a public sector medical university of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methods: An exploratory study was carried out from December 2022 to February 2023 at a public sector medical college of Rawalpindi. A purposive sampling technique was employed to collect data from all content experts of the study institute who participated in item vetting activity during pre-exam moderation in the university. A pilot-tested semi-structured interview guide was utilized, interviews were audio recorded and later transcribed. Participants' anonymity was ensured. Various quality assurance strategies were employed to ensure the trustworthiness of the findings. Thematic analysis was performed on the transcribed data and themes were finalized by achieving consensus among all authors. Results: Six themes overarching the fourteen subthemes emerged from the data. Participants expressed a profound sense of satisfaction and valued their experience in refining expertise in constructing multiple-choice questions (MCQs). It was widely acknowledged that such activities not only contribute to the enhancement of item development skills but also improve quality of items. Conclusions: The consistent implementation of item vetting routines, in conjunction with diligent adherence to item writing protocols, contributes to quality assurance measures in assessment. Item bank development for fair and transparent assessment ensures production of competent healthcare professionals filtering incompetent ones hence improving health care services in the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contemporary policy discourses, data are presented as key assets for improving health‐care quality: policymakers want health care to become 'data driven'. In this article, we focus on a particular example of this ambition, namely a new Danish national quality development program for general practitioners (GPs) where doctors are placed in so‐called 'clusters'. In these clusters, GPs are obliged to assess their own and colleagues' clinical quality with data derived from their own clinics—using comparisons, averages and benchmarks. Based on semi‐structured interviews with Danish GPs and drawing on Science and Technology Studies, we explore how GPs understand these data, and what makes them trust—or question—a data analysis. The GPs describe how they change clinical practices based on these discussions of data. So, when and how do data for quality assurance come to influence their perceptions of quality? By exploring these issues, we carve out a role for a sociological engagement with evidence in everyday medical practices. In conclusion, we suggest a need to move from the aim of being data driven to one of being data informed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of 2% chitosan (CS) coatings incorporated with varying concentrations of cinnamon oil (CO) (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) on the extension of the quality and shelf-life of tomatoes stored under ambient conditions. Control samples were untreated and coated with distilled water. All samples were stored for 14 days at 25 ± 1 °C, with quality assessments conducted every two days. The application of CS-CO treatments was notably effective in controlling weight loss (3.91–5.26%) and firmness loss (10.81–16.51 N), sustaining the color index score (11.98–16.78), and stabilizing the total soluble solids (4.64–4.71 brix), titratable acidity (0.374–0.383%), total phenolic content (75.89–81.54 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid concentration (21.64–33.69 mg/100 g), total antioxidant capacity (85.89–91.54%) and pigment levels, particularly chlorophyll (52.80–63.18 mg/100 g), compared to control samples (p < 0.05). Higher CO concentrations (1.0% and 1.5%) in the CS coating maintained a significant level of phytochemicals in the samples compared to the control group, while CS-CO at 0.5% performed similarly in preserving the other physicochemical qualities. Both CS and CS-CO treatments extended the shelf life of the tomatoes up to 14 days (<6.78 log10 CFU/mL), whereas control samples were only viable for storage for 6 days due to higher microbial growth (>7.8 log10 CFU/mL) (p < 0.05). Overall, CS-CO-treated tomatoes demonstrated superior quality preservation and shelf-life enhancement, with a notable improvement in overall qualities as compared to the CS and control samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A network of regulatory innovations brings a holistic approach to improving the submission, assessment, and lifecycle management of pharmaceutical quality information in the U.S. This dedicated effort in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) aims to enhance the quality assessment of submissions for new drugs, generic drugs, and biological products including biosimilars. These regulatory innovations include developing or contributing: (i) the Knowledge-Aided Assessment and Structured Application (KASA), (ii) a new common technical document for quality (ICH M4Q(R2)), (iii) structured data on Pharmaceutical Quality/Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (PQ/CMC), (iv) Integrated Quality Assessment (IQA), (v) the Quality Surveillance Dashboard (QSD), and (vi) the Established Conditions tool from the ICH Q12 guideline. The innovations collectively drive CDER toward a more coordinated, effective, and efficient quality assessment. Improvements are made possible by structured regulatory submissions, a systems approach to quality risk management, and data-driven decisions based on science, risk, and effective knowledge management. The intended result is better availability of quality medicines for U.S. patients.

Prescribed burning and pyric herbivory play pivotal roles in mitigating wildfire risks, underscoring the imperative of consistent biomass monitoring for assessing fuel load reductions. Drone-derived surface models promise uninterrupted biomass surveillance but require complex photogrammetric processing. In a Mediterranean mountain shrubland burning experiment, we refined a Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereopsis (MVS) workflow to diminish biases in 3D modeling and RGB drone imagery-based surface reconstructions. Given the multitude of SfM-MVS processing alternatives, stringent quality oversight becomes paramount. We executed the following steps: (i) calculated Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) between Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) checkpoints to assess SfM sparse cloud optimization during georeferencing; (ii) evaluated elevation accuracy by comparing the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of six surface and thirty terrain clouds against GNSS readings and known box dimensions; and (iii) complemented a dense cloud quality assessment with density metrics. Balancing overall accuracy and density, we selected surface and terrain cloud versions for high-resolution (2 cm pixel size) and accurate (DSM, MAE = 57 mm; DTM, MAE = 48 mm) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) generation. These DEMs, along with exceptional height and volume models (height, MAE = 12 mm; volume, MAE = 909.20 cm3) segmented by reference box true surface area, substantially contribute to burn impact assessment and vegetation monitoring in fire management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of 2% chitosan (CS) coatings incorporated with varying concentrations of cinnamon oil (CO) (0%, 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) on the extension of the quality and shelf-life of tomatoes stored under ambient conditions. Control samples were untreated and coated with distilled water. All samples were stored for 14 days at 25 ± 1 °C, with quality assessments conducted every two days. The application of CS-CO treatments was notably effective in controlling weight loss (3.91–5.26%) and firmness loss (10.81–16.51 N), sustaining the color index score (11.98–16.78), and stabilizing the total soluble solids (4.64–4.71 brix), titratable acidity (0.374–0.383%), total phenolic content (75.89–81.54 mg/100 g), ascorbic acid concentration (21.64–33.69 mg/100 g), total antioxidant capacity (85.89–91.54%) and pigment levels, particularly chlorophyll (52.80–63.18 mg/100 g), compared to control samples (p < 0.05). Higher CO concentrations (1.0% and 1.5%) in the CS coating maintained a significant level of phytochemicals in the samples compared to the control group, while CS-CO at 0.5% performed similarly in preserving the other physicochemical qualities. Both CS and CS-CO treatments extended the shelf life of the tomatoes up to 14 days (7.8 log10 CFU/mL) (p < 0.05). Overall, CS-CO-treated tomatoes demonstrated superior quality preservation and shelf-life enhancement, with a notable improvement in overall qualities as compared to the CS and control samples.

The dehydration of agricultural products is a topic of research covering the preservation and conservation of the quality of agricultural and food items. The actual tasks of environmental protection include creating novel solutions to reduce the energy needs and exothermic consequences of the bulk of industrial processes. Due to the fact that air temperature and velocity in the seed layer are not uniform, the currently employed seed dryers have significant energy requirements and generate a lot of heat. A device that addresses this problem was developed and is now the subject of a patent application. The Coandă effect-based tronconic plates used in the dryer enable warm air to be dispersed uniformly throughout the product mass. Mathematical modeling was used for the design, operation, and optimization of the baffled drying unit. The investigations, which were conducted by modifying and observing the operational parameters (the velocity and temperature of the warm air) used four distinct types of seed with three different beginning moisture concentrations. Following the completion of the CFD simulation, the unit's design was created in SolidWorks. The seed and air humidity were measured using sensors, and the air speed was measured using an anemometer. The current lines and fields were used to express the speed and temperature results. The unit with deflectors reduced the amount of heat released by up to 15.38% and reduced the amount of energy used by up to 14%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: To explore barriers and facilitators to write good quality items for undergraduate dental assessments. Methods: A qualitative case study was conducted from Feb-April 2021. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of eighteen item writers from a public-sector dental institute of Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The data were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed to extract themes regarding barriers and facilitators to write good quality items. All quality assurance procedures of qualitative research were ensured during the research process. Results: Five themes related to barriers and three themes related to facilitators to write good quality items emerged from the data. The participants reported more barriers such as lack of frequent training and lack of peer review and feedback. Other barriers were demotivation due to lack of acknowledgement or monetary incentives, lack of content and construct expertise, clinical workload, and contextual barriers such as lack of internet facility, outdated library, and lack of place and time allocation for item construction. Facilitators were availability of peer review, feedback from post-hoc analysis, motivation due to the senior designation, clinical experience, and ample time for basic sciences faculty. Conclusion: Frequent item writing training, strong peer review process, pre-exam item vetting by the dental education department, and institutional improvements such as striving for content experts, time and place allocation for item construction, internet facility, updated library, and equal distribution of workload among faculty could enhance the quality of items. Moreover, ways to inculcate motivation among item writers such as appreciation or monetary incentives could be used to improve the quality of undergraduate assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dehydration of agricultural products is a topic of research covering the preservation and conservation of the quality of agricultural and food items. The actual tasks of environmental protection include creating novel solutions to reduce the energy needs and exothermic consequences of the bulk of industrial processes. Due to the fact that air temperature and velocity in the seed layer are not uniform, the currently employed seed dryers have significant energy requirements and generate a lot of heat. A device that addresses this problem was developed and is now the subject of a patent application. The Coandă effect-based tronconic plates used in the dryer enable warm air to be dispersed uniformly throughout the product mass. Mathematical modeling was used for the design, operation, and optimization of the baffled drying unit. The investigations, which were conducted by modifying and observing the operational parameters (the velocity and temperature of the warm air) used four distinct types of seed with three different beginning moisture concentrations. Following the completion of the CFD simulation, the unit’s design was created in SolidWorks. The seed and air humidity were measured using sensors, and the air speed was measured using an anemometer. The current lines and fields were used to express the speed and temperature results. The unit with deflectors reduced the amount of heat released by up to 15.38% and reduced the amount of energy used by up to 14%.

Schisandra chinensis , as a famous medicinal and food homologous plant, has a long history of medicinal and dietary therapy. It has the functions of nourishing the kidney, calming the heart, tranquilising the mind, tonifying Qi and producing fluid to relieve mental stress, based on the theory of traditional Chinese medicine. Accumulating evidence has shown that S. chinensis polysaccharides (SCPs) are one of the most important bioactive macromolecules and exhibit diverse biological activities in vitro and in vivo , including neuroprotective, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory, antioxidant, hypoglycemic, cardioprotective, antitumour and anti-inflammatory activities, etc. This review aims to thoroughly review the recent advances in the extraction and purification methods, structural features, biological activities and structure-activity relationships, potential applications and quality assessment of SCPs, and further highlight the therapeutic potentials and health functions of SCPs in the fields of therapeutic agents and functional food development. Future insights and challenges of SCPs were also critically discussed. Overall, the present review provides a theoretical overview for the further development and utilization of S. chinensis polysaccharides in the health food and pharmaceutical fields. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A network of regulatory innovations brings a holistic approach to improving the submission, assessment, and lifecycle management of pharmaceutical quality information in the U.S. This dedicated effort in the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) aims to enhance the quality assessment of submissions for new drugs, generic drugs, and biological products including biosimilars. These regulatory innovations include developing or contributing: (i) the Knowledge-Aided Assessment and Structured Application (KASA), (ii) a new common technical document for quality (ICH M4Q(R2)), (iii) structured data on Pharmaceutical Quality/Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls (PQ/CMC), (iv) Integrated Quality Assessment (IQA), (v) the Quality Surveillance Dashboard (QSD), and (vi) the Established Conditions tool from the ICH Q12 guideline. The innovations collectively drive CDER toward a more coordinated, effective, and efficient quality assessment. Improvements are made possible by structured regulatory submissions, a systems approach to quality risk management, and data-driven decisions based on science, risk, and effective knowledge management. The intended result is better availability of quality medicines for U.S. patients., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Science and engineering education are mostly based on content assimilation and development of skills. However, to adequately prepare students for today's world, it is also necessary to stimulate critical thinking and make them reflect on how to improve current practices using new tools and technologies. In this line, the main motivation of this research consists in exploring ways supported by technology to enhance the learning process of students and to better prepare them to face the challenges of today's world. To this end, the purpose of this work is to design an innovative learning project based on collaborative work among students, and research its impact in achieving better learning outcomes, generating of collective intelligence and further motivation. The proposed collaborative working model is based on peer review assessment methodology implemented through a learning web-platform. Thus, students were encouraged to peer review their classmates' works. They had to make comments, suggest improvements, and assess final assignments. Teaching staff managed and supervised the whole process. Students were selected from computer science engineering at the University of Alicante (Spain). Results suggested greater content assimilation and enhanced learning in several scientific skills. The students' final grade exceeded what any student could produce individually, but we cannot conclude that real collective intelligence was generated. Learning methodologies based on the possibilities of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) provide new ways to transmit and manage knowledge in higher education. Collaborating in peer assessment enhances the students' motivation and promotes the active learning. In addition, this method can be very helpful and time saving for instructors in the management of large groups. • Improved performance of students is produced through collaborative learning. • Student peer review enhances content assimilation. • An enhanced learning in several scientific skills is produced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quality of basic nursing bachelor programmes nationally and internationally must regularly be assessed to ensure that they fulfil requirements and are appropriate in relation to developments and changes in societies and healthcare systems. There is a need for instruments in helping to assess this. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the Nurse Professional Competence (NPC) Scale could serve as a tool to measure and detect possible differences between universities/university colleges regarding nursing students' self-reported competence. Totally, 543 nursing students who had just completed their academic three-year nursing bachelor programmes at 10 universities/university colleges in Sweden participated in the study (response rate 71%). The students answered the NPC Scale with its 88 items constituting eight competence areas (CAs) and two overarching themes. The results from using the NPC Scale by the students were then compared between the 10 universities/university colleges. Significant mean score differences were found between the universities/university colleges on all CAs and on both themes. The highest mean score differences were found for the CAs 'Medical and technical care' and 'Documentation and information technology'. The lowest mean score differences were found for the CAs 'Value-based nursing care' and 'Leadership in and development of nursing'. It is concluded that the NPC Scale can serve as a useful tool in national and international assessments of nursing bachelor programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Maclaurin symmetric mean (MSM) was originally introduced by Maclaurin. The prominent characteristic of the MSM is that it can capture the interrelationship among the multi-input arguments. However, the researches on MSM are very rare, especially in fuzzy decision making. In this paper, we investigate the MSM operator and extend the MSM operator to hesitant fuzzy environment and develop the hesitant fuzzy Maclaurin symmetric mean (HFMSM) operator and hesitant fuzzy weighted Maclaurin symmetric mean (HFWMSM) operator. Based on HFWMSM operator, an approach to multiple attribute decision making problems with hesitant fuzzy information is developed. Finally, an illustrative example for quality assessments of Yellow soil aggregate of tea garden is given to verify the developed approach and to demonstrate its practicality and effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With human society developments, health systems encounter with new needs that should be met. Considering the fact that customers compare the quality of services with their expectations, we conducted this study to find out the gap between client expectations and perceptions from the quality of primary health services in Gorgan health center. Material and Methods: In this analytical survey, 225 primary health services recipients in Gorgan were studied via stratified random sampling. SERVQUAL questionnaire was used for measuring expectations and perceptions about the quality of services in five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Data were analyzed in SPSS, version 16 using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon test. Results: The client's age ranged between 14-57 years and the females formed 89.7 present of the participants. The difference between expectations and perceptions about the quality of primary health services was statistically significant (P

Background: Cancer centers are pressured to deliver high-quality services that can be measured and improved, which has led to an increase of assessments in many countries. A critical area of quality improvement is to improve patient outcome. An overview of existing assessments can help stakeholders (e.g., healthcare professionals, managers and policy makers) improve the quality of cancer research and care and lead to patient benefits. This paper presents key aspects of assessments undertaken by European cancer centers, such as: are assessments mandatory or voluntary? Do they focus on evaluating research, care or both? And are they international or national?Methods: A survey was sent to 33 cancer centers in 28 European Union member states. Participants were asked to score the specifics for each assessment that they listed.Results: Based on the responses from 19 cancer centers from 18 member states, we found 109 assessments. The numbers have steadily increased from 1990's till 2015. Although, a majority of assessments are on patient-care aspects (n = 45), it is unclear how many of those include assessing patient benefits. Only few assessments cover basic research. There is an increasing trend towards mixed assessments (i.e., combining research and patient-care aspects)Conclusions: The need for assessments in cancer centers is increasing. To improve efforts in the quality of research and patient care and to prevent new assessments that "reinvent the wheel", it is advised to start comparative research into the assessments that are likely to bring patient benefits and improve patient outcome. Do assessments provide consistent and reliable information that create added value for all key stakeholders? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background & Aims: Happiness is a persistent feeling of positive emotion and perception of reality of life. Physiological signs of emotion and joy, including: Changes in the face or tone of speech which strongly affect the quality of our relationship with others. Communication performance is the most important characteristic for those who work in primary healthcare. Midwives as a key member in the treatment process, has close relationship with the patients. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the level of happiness and its relationship with the quality of communication performance in midwives. Materials & Methods: This study was conducted among 90 midwives working in maternity of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences hospitals which were selected through census sampling. This is a descriptive-correlation study. Data were collected from the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire and observational Check list for communication performance. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, Spearman, ANOVA and Pearson test with Spss19. Results: 11 (12.2%) midwives had low level of happiness, 46 (51.1%) moderate, and 33 midwives (36.7%) had high level of happiness. Spearman correlation coefficient showed a significant and positive correlation between happiness and communication performance (p<0.001, r=0.771). Conclusion: Due to happiness and communicative performance show significant positive correlation, and also the result showed 63.3% of midwives had low and average happiness, authorities can increase the communication performance of midwives by increasing levels of happiness and through this, organizations provide patient satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the successful launch of the first polar-orbiting morning-configured satellite, FY-3A, on May 27, 2008, in a new Fengyun three (FY-3) series, the second afternoon-configured polar-orbiting satellite (FY-3B) was launched on November 5, 2010. The four-channel Microwave Temperature Sounder (MWTS) was onboard both FY-3A/B satellites, with designed channel frequency similar to channels 3, 5, 7, and 9 of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-A (AMSU-A). This study assesses the quality of the brightness temperature measurements from FY-3B MWTS by comparing them with numerical weather prediction (NWP) model simulations and NOAA-18 AMSU-A measurements with the same frequencies. A strong latitudinal-dependent bias is found for both MWTS channel 3 and AMSU-A channel 7. At channel 4, the brightness temperatures are contaminated within a small latitudinal zone ( ~ 30°-40°N) of the Northern Hemisphere. It is also found that the MWTS channel 4 bias is strongly asymmetric across the scan and the fourth field of view (FOV4) of channel 4 is globally and systematically warmer than its neighboring FOVs. These anomalous biases may arise from sidelobe effect and interferences of the signal transmitted from some unknown sources. A quality control algorithm is developed to remove the anomalous data at MWTS channel 4 for its applications in NWP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With human society developments, health systems encounter with new needs that should be met. Considering the fact that customers compare the quality of services with their expectations, we conducted this study to find out the gap between client expectations and perceptions from the quality of primary health services in Gorgan health center. Material and Methods: In this analytical survey, 225 primary health services recipients in Gorgan were studied via stratified random sampling. SERVQUAL questionnaire was used for measuring expectations and perceptions about the quality of services in five dimensions of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. Data were analyzed in SPSS, version 16 using descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon test. Results: The client's age ranged between 14-57 years and the females formed 89.7 present of the participants. The difference between expectations and perceptions about the quality of primary health services was statistically significant (P<0.05). We found the maximum gap in reliability dimension (-1.47) and minimum gap in tangibles dimension (-1.11). In 22 items of the questionnaire, the maximum and minimum gaps were found in the staff's belief about the effectiveness of services and staff appearance, respectively. Conclusion: There was a considerable quality gap in all dimensions. Because of the shortage in equipment and resources, recognition of the customer's expectations and perceptions could help managers to improve the quality by revising the organizational processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationship between product quality evaluation scores for wild and cultured seabream. Data comes from a consumer survey representative of the Spanish fish and seafood market, from where seabream consumers who were able to distinguish wild from cultured were selected for specific questions. A behavioral structural equation model with factorial latent variables was formulated to test the interaction hypothesis. Results suggest that both wild and cultured seabream share a common image linked to the whole species, becoming complementary goods rather than substitutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Multi-sensor image fusion using the wavelet approach provides a conceptual framework for the improvement of the spatial resolution with minimal distortion of the spectral content of the source image. This paper assesses whether images with a large ratio of spatial resolution can be fused, and evaluates the potential of using such fused images for mapping the Brazilian Savanna. Three types of wavelet transforms were used to perform the fusion between MODIS and Landsat TM images. Five quality measures were defined to assess the quality of the fused images. The results showed that it was possible to perform the fusion of MODIS and TM images and the pyramidal in Fourier space wavelet transform provided the best quality measures for the fused images. Classification results showed that fused images could be used for mapping the Brazilian Savanna with an accuracy level comparable to the Landsat TM image. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This study concerns the assessment of non-coated concrete surfaces in civil engineering structures and buildings. Imaging is used as an objective tool for evaluation of the surfaces. Because images of surfaces taken under different conditions of illumination are difficult to compare, this paper presents a method suggested by the building firm GTM Construction and the laboratory LMDC for obtaining images of luminance L ∗ simulated for one standard illuminant (D65). Concrete surfaces can be qualified with respect to uniformity of tint and distribution of surface bubbles. The process described is based on image analysis. Not only can the results be compared with current standards, but the method also gives access to additional, accurate information such as the distribution of defects and the size of surface bubbles. This method is already applied on building sites for experts’ assessments and in the laboratory for the study of the parameters influencing surface quality. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Point-of-care testing (POCT) continues to expand worldwide. Concerns remain about result quality despite guidelines and standards that specify testing practices. To better understand POCT testing worldwide, we polled analysts to obtain their views on actual practices and needs for improvement., Methods: An online questionnaire was constructed on SurveyMonkey, a commercially available website for conducting such surveys. POCT analysts were sought worldwide from a pool of healthcare providers subscribed to a westgard.com newsletter or visitors to westgard.com and/or LinkedIn to one of the authors., Results: Seventy-three percent of testing occurred in hospitals with 64% conducted in specialty settings. Regulatory mandates were followed by 88%. For most, less than 100 tests were performed per day fewer less than 25 devices. Nurses top the list of analysts. All but 5% of analysts received some form of training primarily from manufacturers. Eighty-seven percent verified devices/methods prior to implementation. Five percent do not perform daily QC; all analyzed external QC at least once per month. When QC limits exceed acceptable limits, 92% stop testing. Expired materials were used by 5%. The majority collected data for quality improvements. Eleven percent thought their organization's POCT is acceptable. The majority of respondents believe improvements need to be made in POCT., Conclusions: Analysts' POCT practices have and are improving to contribute positively to patients' healthcare and safety. Analysts do recognize problems and their wants/needs provide important information to improve their practices. Most participants desire more in-house and/or manufacturer training, explicit directions from manufacturers, manufacturer built-in quality and function checks, and oversight., (© American Association for Clinical Chemistry 2020. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)