Comparison of Proficiency Testing among Hospitals Microbiology Laboratories in Tehran and Districts

External quality assessment is one of the important ways for assessment of competency in microbiology laboratories. The aim of this study was to compare external quality assessment results among hospital microbiology laboratories both in governmental and private sectors located in Tehran and districts. Two unknown species of bacteria including Burkelderia cepacia and Staphylococus epidermidis were distributed among 121 laboratories including 79 governmental and 42 private sector microbiology laboratories. We asked for identification of both microorganisms and susceptibility testing for S. epidermidis. We obtained answer from 106 microbiology laboratories. Nearly all laboratories produced correct answer for identification and susceptibility testing of S. epidermid. However microbiology laboratories in both sector had problems for identification of B. cepcia Governmental related hospital microbiology laboratories in comparison of private sectors produced relatively correct answer for identification of B. cepacia. It is concluded that in present country there are difficulties for identification of some microorganism in microbiology laboratories especially in private sectors.