External Quality Assessment for Tuberculosis Diagnosis and Drug Resistance in the European Union: A Five Year Multicentre Implementation Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

External quality assurance (EQA) systems are essential to ensure accurate diagnosis of TB and drug-resistant TB. The implementation of EQA through organising regular EQA rounds and identification of training needs is one of the key activities of the European TB reference laboratory network (ERLTB-Net). The aim of this study was to analyse the results of the EQA rounds in a systematic manner and to identify potential benefits as well as common problems encountered by the participants.

Methods

The ERLTB-Net developed seven EQA modules to test laboratories' proficiency for TB detection and drug susceptibility testing using both conventional and rapid molecular tools. All National TB Reference laboratories in the European Union and European Economic Area (EU/EEA) Memb

SUBMITTER: Nikolayevskyy V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4824391 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature