Clinical Microbiology Is Growing Up: The Total Laboratory Automation Revolution. Clin Chem 2019 May;65(5):634-643
Date
12/07/2018Pubmed ID
30518664DOI
10.1373/clinchem.2017.274522Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85065503043 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site) 46 CitationsAbstract
BACKGROUND: Historically, culture-based microbiology laboratory testing has relied on manual methods, and automated methods (such as those that have revolutionized clinical chemistry and hematology over the past several decades) were largely absent from the clinical microbiology laboratory. However, an increased demand for microbiology testing and standardization of sample-collection devices for microbiology culture, as well as a dwindling supply of microbiology technologists, has driven the adoption of automated methods for culture-based laboratory testing in clinical microbiology.
CONTENT: We describe systems currently enabling total laboratory automation (TLA) for culture-based microbiology testing. We describe the general components of a microbiology automation system and the various functions of these instruments. We then introduce the 2 most widely used systems currently on the market: Becton Dickinson's Kiestra TLA and Copan's WASPLab. We discuss the impact of TLA on metrics such as turnaround time and recovery of microorganisms, providing a review of the current literature and perspectives from laboratory directors, managers, and technical staff. Finally, we provide an outlook for future advances in TLA for microbiology with a focus on artificial intelligence for automated culture interpretation.
SUMMARY: TLA is playing an increasingly important role in clinical microbiology. Although challenges remain, TLA has great potential to affect laboratory efficiency, turnaround time, and the overall quality of culture-based microbiology testing.
Author List
Bailey AL, Ledeboer N, Burnham CDAuthor
Nathan A. Ledeboer PhD Vice Chair, Professor in the Pathology department at Medical College of WisconsinMESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold
AutomationColony Count, Microbial
Efficiency, Organizational
Humans
Laboratories
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Microbiological Techniques
Time and Motion Studies