title: National prevalence survey in Brazil to evaluate the quality of microbiology laboratories: the importance of defining priorities to allocate limited resources.
abstract: This report describes a survey of microbiology laboratories (n = 467) serving Brazilian hospitals with ≥10 intensive care beds and/or involved in the government health care adverse event reporting system. Coordinators were interviewed and laboratories classified as follows: Level 0 (no minimal functioning conditions-85.4% of laboratories); Level 1 (minimal functioning conditions but inadequate execution of basic routine-6.7%); Level 2 (minimal functioning conditions and adequate execution of basic routine but no adequate procedures for quality control-5.8%); Level 3 (minimal functioning conditions, adequate execution of basic routine, and adequate procedures for quality control, but no direct communication with the infection control department-0.9%); Level 4 (minimal functioning conditions, adequate execution of basic routine, adequate procedures for quality control, and direct communication with infection control, but no available advanced resources-none); and Level 5 (minimal functioning conditions, adequate execution of basic routine, adequate procedures for quality control, direct communication with infection control, and available advanced resources-0.9%). Twelve laboratories did not perform Ziehl-Neelsen staining; 271 did not have safety cabinets; and >30% without safety cabinets had automated systems. Low quality was associated with serving hospitals not participating in government adverse-event program; private hospitals; nonteaching hospitals; and those outside state capitals. Results may reflect what occurs in many other countries where defining priorities is important due to limited resources.
authors: Departamento de Moléstias Infecciosas e Parasitárias and Laboratório de Investigação Médica-LIM 54, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors: Luciano B
authors: LB
authors: Costa
authors: Maria Regina Alves
authors: MR
authors: Cardoso
authors: Consuelo G
authors: CG
authors: Ferreira
authors: Carlos E
authors: CE
authors: Levy
authors: Heder M
authors: HM
authors: Borba
authors: Janaina
authors: J
authors: Sallas
authors: Heiko T
authors: HT
authors: Santana
authors: Rogério S
authors: RS
authors: Lima
authors: Lucia R
authors: LR
authors: Ferraz
authors: Joana D'Arc P
authors: JD
authors: Reis
authors: Leandro Q
authors: LQ
authors: Santi
authors: Anna S
authors: AS
authors: Levin
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D003625:Data Collection; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D007753:Laboratories / Q000592:standards*; D008828:Microbiological Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D011786:Quality Control; D040841:Resource Allocation / Q000592:standards*