[Quality assurance in tuberculosis laboratories]

The laboratory has always played a critical role in diagnosis of tuberculosis and monitoring treatment. The basic aim in tuberculosis laboratory is to generate accurate and reliable test results for clinicians. This aim can be achieved by using quality assurance programs. Three main components of quality assurance are, internal quality control, a process by which each laboratory continuously monitors its own performance (guidelines, education and check of staff); external quality control, a process whereby laboratory performance between the other laboratories is assessed by external quality control organization (accuracy and efficiency) and quality improvement (continuous development of quality which involves identification of errors and remedial action). In this article, quality control procedures which are followed in tuberculosis laboratory to ensure the quality assurance, have been reviewed.