3 Minimising errors

As noted in Section 1, AMR surveillance relies heavily on local microbiology laboratories producing data of high quality and integrity (Seale et al., 2017). Procedures should be in place to minimise errors, and to make sure that results are reproducible, i.e. the same result will be obtained from a sample even when processed by different operators on different days, or even in different laboratories.

The processes that minimise errors include:

• standard operating procedures (SOPs) for all activities
• implementing quality controls (QCs)
• ensuring all staff are trained on equipment and procedures.