Teaching practice of undergraduate graduation projects in clinical laboratory science integrating liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and external quality assessment

This study aimed to explore the application and pedagogical innovation of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （LC-MS/MS） in undergraduate thesis training for medical laboratory science students. Using the development of 25-hydroxyvitamin D2 （25（OH）D2） and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 （25（OH）D3） external quality assessment （EQA） samples as a teaching platform， an experimental teaching model driven by research tasks and clinical practice was established. The teaching design encompassed the entire workflow， including sample preparation， instrument operation， data processing， and result evaluation， enabling students to acquire hands-on experience with core LC-MS/MS techniques and quality control procedures. Through the implementation of the experimental project， students participated in EQA sample preparation， reference method-based quantification， homogeneity and stability assessments， and EQA result analysis， thereby gaining comprehensive exposure to the process from experimental design to result interpretation. The results demonstrated that the prepared EQA samples exhibited satisfactory homogeneity and stability， meeting the quality standards established by the China National Accreditation Service for Conformity Assessment （CNAS）. In the “2024 Beijing Serum Vitamin D EQA” activity， a total of 16 medical laboratory institutions in Beijing participated. Teaching practice revealed that this project significantly enhanced students’ comprehensive abilities in experimental design， instrument operation， data analysis， and quality assessment， while also fostering scientific thinking and teamwork. By introducing advanced analytical techniques into the undergraduate curriculum under the educational concept of “research-driven teaching and integration of industry and education”， this approach not only optimized course content and experimental procedures but also broadened students’ practical perspectives in clinical laboratory and research applications. This study provides a replicable teaching model for undergraduate laboratory education and offers valuable insights for promoting the integration of advanced analytical technologies into medical laboratory science training.