[Quality indicators for blood culture: three years of monitoring at a university hospital in Chile].

Blood culture is considered the "gold standard" for the diagnosis of bacteremia, critical condition with high morbidity and mortality. Because of its importance, it is estimated that the blood culture is a critical test that requires close monitoring on the quality with which the process is performed. The objective of this work is to show the results of the monitoring carried out during the past three years, of 5 quality indicators of blood cultures in the laboratory of the Hospital Clínico de la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, considering pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical aspects. In the 3 years monitored the mean contamination was 0,7%, 46% of adult bottles had adequate volume, match between Gram stain with final identification was 99.4%, 100% of correct participations were achieved in surveys of external quality control and Gram staining notification before 1 hour was 88.7%. With regard to proposed aims, in 2011 the laboratory complies with all, except the percentage of bottles with appropriate volume of blood inoculated. This indicator is very low and should be corrected as soon as possible since it is known that it is an important condition for optimum performance of blood cultures.