Medical Microbiology is a branch of medicine concerned with the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infections diseases. Medical microbiologist studies the characteristics of pathogens, their modes of transmission, mechanisms of infection and growth. Medical microbiologist often serve as consultants for physicians, providing identification of pathogen and suggesting treatment options.
The critical role of the microbiology laboratory in infections disease diagnosis calls for a close, positive working relationship between the physician and the microbiologists who provide enorms value to the health care team.
Unlike other areas of the diagnostic laboratory, clinical microbiology is a science of interpretive judgment that is becoming more complex. Even with the advent of laboratory automation and the integration of genomics and proteomics in microbiology, interpretation of results still depends on the quality of the specimens received for analysis, (Baron, E.J, et al, 2013).
The microbiology laboratory needs a specimen that has been appropriately selected, collected and transported to the laboratory for analysis.
The diagnosis of infectious disease is best achieved by applying in depth knowledge of both medical and laboratory science along with principles of epidemiology and pharmacy kinetics of antibiotics and by integrating a strategic view of host parasite interactions. Clearly, the best out comes for patients are the result of strong partnerships between the clinician and the laboratorial specialist.
It is very important for the microbiology laboratory to provide the clinician with information about microbiology laboratory tests results as soon as possible, since this data is strongly connected to treating patients with infectious disease appropriately as well as with performing adequate hospital infection control. Therefore, the microbiology laboratory should always have a good relationship and good communication with the clinician and infection control practitioner. For this purpose, it would be beneficial for the microbiology laboratory staff to attend the doctor’s round to see patients with infectious diseases, or to attend the patients management conferences in the wards. In most hospitals in Japan microbiology laboratories are closed on holidays. But the microbiology laboratory should available for at least someimportant test, such as the identification and susceptibility testing of blood cultures isolates on holidays in order to facilitate treatment of patients with serious infectious diseases by appropriate antimicrobial therapy (Journal of clinic. microbiology).
Impact of Specimen Management
This is the key to accurate laboratory diagnosis and confirmation:It directly affects patient care and patient outcomes
It influence therapeutic decisions,
It impacts hospital infection control,
It impacts patient length of stay, hospital costs and laboratory costs,
It also influences laboratory efficiency.
Clinicians should consult the laboratory to ensure that selection, collection, transport and storage of patient specimens are performed properly. (Baron, E.J, et al, 2013).
Some strategic tenets of specimen management and testing in microbiology that stand as community standards of care and that set microbiology apart from other laboratory departments such as chemistry or hematology. These points are:
Specimens of poor quality must be rejected this should be done correctly and responsibly when physicians are called to clarify and resolve problem with specimen submissions.
“Background noise” must be sites have normal microbiota that can easily contaminate the specimen. Therefore specimens from sites such as lower respiratory tracts (sputum), nasal sinuses, superficial rounds, fistulae and others requires care in collection (Baron E.J et al., 2013).
Swabs are not specimen of choice for surgery because swabs pick up extraneous microbes and hold extremely small volumes of the specimen (0.05ml) which makes it difficult to ge
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