Users can choose the most appropriate equipment only if they have access to objective information concerning quality and user-friendliness. This is one of the reasons Scandinavian Evaluation of Laboratory Equipment for Primary Health Care , SKUP, began operating in the autumn of 1997. The goal of SKUP is to produce objective and independent information concerning the quality and user-friendliness of laboratory equipment for physicians' offices outside the hospital. SKUP personnel are financed with funds from their respective countries, while the actual testing is funded by the equipment suppliers. Courses were held for 21 persons in the three Scandinavian countries.
Some evaluations have been completed, others are in prosess, and more are being planned.
For suppliers this offers an opportunity to have their equipment subjected to standardized testing all over Scandinavia. We believe SKUP will play a significant role when the new directive on in vitro diagnostics is implemented. Background A number of different instruments for use outside the hospital are currently on the Scandinavian market. There has been no agency in Scandinavia for approving or evaluating laboratory equipment ready for marketing. Laboratory equipment is frequently sent out on the market without having been evaluated under the conditions under which it will be used in reality.