title: External quality control results of urine dip-slide devices.
abstract: Urinary tract infections are frequently diagnosed by using urine dip-slide devices, especially in medical practices and small laboratories. We performed a retrospective analysis of more than 3000 results obtained by several urine dip-slide devices during external quality control surveys. We found that an underestimation of bacterial counts and a difficulty in identifying mixed flora were relatively more frequent in medical practices than in specialized laboratories, and that regular participation in external quality control surveys correlates with better performances.
authors.affiliation: Centre Suisse de Contrôle de Qualité, CH-1225 Chêne-Bourg, Switzerland. cscq@hcuge.ch
authors.forename: Pierre-Alain
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Morandi
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mauris
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deom
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rohner
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D011786:Quality Control; D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic / Q000382:microbiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D011933:Reagent Kits, Diagnostic