Abstract: Objective To evaluate the quality of AFB microscopy in general hospitals in Haidian district of Beijing and propose measures to improve the quality. Methods The technicians from 11 general hospitals were trained for standard operational procedure and Results interpretation and reporting of AFB examination. The method of EQA was done according to the quality assurance manual of NTP. Meanwhile, on-site investigation, evaluation and blinded reexamination was carried out to general hospitals.  Results There is significance difference in terms of workloads between different hospitals. Positive rates of AFB were not significant different between class-2 and class-3 hospitals. For reexamination, qualitative consistency rate was 97.7%, and quantitative consistency rate was 93.6%. Conclusion The quality of AFB microscopy varies between different general hospitals, therefore the capacity and quality should be further improved.

Key words: staining and labeling, microscopy, quality control