Chemical reagents degrade over time. QC ensures they are working on the day of use.

A robust QC system must have strict rejection criteria. Accepting a poor specimen costs the patient time and money and yields clinically useless data.

“Quality Control in Microbiology: The Unseen Guardians”

: Deals with the "output." This includes the accurate reporting of results, data storage, and communication with healthcare providers or epidemiologists. Key Components of a QC Program

This was the QC nightmare:

This phase encompasses the actual "benchwork"—the isolation, identification, and susceptibility testing of organisms.