Objective: Quality assessment of some extra-analytical processes in Czech medical laboratories. Method: Six surveys on the extra analytical phase were realised in 2001–2006 in Czech and Slovac laboratories. Number of participants increased from 69 to 98. Results: Errors in patient identification decreased in three years from 49% to 8%. Number of identification the unsuitable primary samples for lactate measurement ranged in the interval of 46–78%. As many as 48–75% of participants did not identify necessity of sexual partitioning the serum creatinine values. A 63–76% proportion of participants did not use diagnostic limits from international guidelines for basic lipid analytes examination. Incorrect assessment of critical differences decreased in two years from 37% to 17% and incorrect calculation of critical difference from 43% to 17%. Discussion: The results show unsatisfactory state-of-art in extra-analytical phase in clinical laboratories. A lot of errors we can impute to lower level of laboratory organisation and management in laboratory activities.

        Key words: extra-analytical process, external quality assessment, identification, decision limit, critical differences.