Understanding Medical Microbiology Tests

The book’s purpose is to help community-based primary care physicians and nurses, and laboratory-based microbiologists, better understand each other’s requirements in collecting and interpreting specimens, and thus to improve the quality of patient care, while saving resources and reducing unnecessary antibiotic prescription._x000d_
The book’s structure focuses on three basic principles: deciding whether a specimen is clinically necessary; how to collect the specimen effectively, and how to interpret the laboratory report._x000d_
Individual chapters cover all the main specimen types sent to the laboratory from primary care. At the beginning of each chapter a case scenario is used to identify critical steps in processing a particular specimen type, followed by quick action guides to assess current practice and implement necessary changes in procedure._x000d_
The award winning author of Clinical Bacteriology (BMA student book of the year 2005) has brought together a microbiologist, a primary care physician and a specialist in infectious disease, to produce this concise, highly illustrated guide, of value alike to primary care physicians, nurses, microbiologists and medical students.