8 Fundamentals of quality control for isolating and identifying bacteria

In a veterinary microbiology laboratory, several factors can affect the accuracy and reliability of test results. Quality control (QC) measures are therefore put in place to monitor whether tests perform as expected and do so reliably. You will learn more about QC and other quality procedures in the Quality Assurance and AMR surveillance course.

Activity 13: QC in veterinary microbiology laboratories

Timing: Allow about 5 minutes

Based on your work experience and on what you have learned in this course, why do you think QC is important when identifying pathogens from clinical specimens?

Discussion

QC ensures the following:

  • Media fertility: you can actually grow the organisms you’re looking for.
  • Media sterility: your media do not contain viable contaminating bacteria that can grow during incubation.
  • Your media and test reagents are working correctly, for example, if they have deteriorated during storage or there is something wrong with what the manufacturer has supplied, the QC tests will pick this up.
  • You are performing the tests under optimal conditions, for example, the incubator is at the right temperature.
  • Your tests are repeatable: each time you use the same strain, you get the same result.

7.6.1 Isolation of Campylobacter species

9 Identifying pathogens in your workplace