Abstract
The Bureau of Laboratory Quality Standards of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) had established a quality certification system for diagnostic radiology laboratory (DRLab), namely MOPH X-ray 2562, since 2019. This study aimed to determine the appropriate processes and to evaluate the implementation of the established certification system by using descriptive statistics and one-way ANOVA. The research included three parts: (1) the creation of DRLab standards with 10 main topics containing 114 checklist items; (2) the development of a certification system, including quality documents, assessor training, and operational procedures in order to provide certification services for DRLabs in Thailand; (3) the implementation of the certification system with 245 DRLabs of 5 provider groups (community hospitals, general hospitals, regional hospitals, academic hospitals under Ministry of Public Health, and hospitals of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration). Sixty-three percent of the total DRLabs (245) were found to have nonconformities of less than 10 requirement items. The satisfaction questionnaire revealed that 70.2% were satisfied with the highest satisfaction rate being 88.0%. The average satisfaction levels of DRLabs among 5 groups showed no significant difference (p > 0.05 by one-way ANOVA). The established certification system could be applied to certify diagnostic radiology laboratories throughout the country to promote quality system of safe, efficient, and standardized services to both recipients and providers.
