The credibility of Polish diagnostic microbiological testing 
in 2021 based on the results of the POLMICRO external 
laboratory control

Introduction: The paper presents the results of the 28th edition of the Polish National External 
Quality Assessment Scheme in Microbiology POLMICRO organised by the Centre of Quality 
Control in Microbiology (CQCM).
Aim: The aim of the scheme is the assessment of the credibility of microbiological testing 
carried out by medical laboratories in Poland.
Material and methods: The assessment is based on the analysis of the results obtained by 
the participants in each round of the POLMICRO, POLMICRO/MIKOLOGIA (MICOLOGY), and 
POLMICRO/SSE programmes in 2021.
Results: Positive results in the full annual cycle were obtained by 95.73% of laboratories 
participating in the POLMICRO programme and all participants of POLMICRO/MIKOLOGIA 
(MICOLOGY) and POLMICRO/SSE.
Conclusions: Medical diagnostic laboratories participating in the CQCM programmes of 
external laboratory control demonstrated high competence in such areas of microbiological 
diagnostics as the identification of pathogenic microorganisms, antimicrobial susceptibility 
testing, and detection of resistance mechanisms.

