Microbiology Automated Processes

Microbiology has always been very conventional and manual with the aspect that
automation was for other fields and not fitted for microbiology. However, the long turnaround
times of traditional approaches to bacterial identification and drug susceptibility testing
contribute to the spread of infectious disease, negative patient outcomes, and the misuse of
antibiotics that could lead to antibiotic resistance. In the recent years, new and improved
automated technologies have provided solutions to the challenges faced by the microbiology lab
at present. In the laboratory setting, automation refers to the switch from manual work to
machines. In this wide sense, all machines in the laboratory are a kind of automation. However,
not included in this form of automation is the registration of specimens at the time of their arrival
at the laboratory and the generation of a report for the physician. For example, as shown in the
video, when receiving blood specimens for blood cultures, the barcode needs to be attached
from the bottle to the back of the charged slip of the patient, labelled with the correct details:
site, date and time collected and phlebotomist’s initials. Moreover, every specimen is manually
received through the receiving logbook. Nevertheless, lab automation has increased productivity
with more samples processed per patient, diverge from batch processing to continuous, even
24/7 processing and ability to view the whole patient's plate set and historical plate sets.

Among today’s automated systems and widely used in the clinical microbiology are the
BACT/ALERT 3D and VITEK 2 Compact which are highlighted in the video. Honestly speaking,
these systems are new to me, but I am thankful for the effort of showing to us how they are
used. At least, we’ve got to be familiarized with the new advancement in the microbiology lab.
The machine used for incubating the culture bottles is the BACT/ALERT 3D which is used in
most hospitals in the country. The video showed us how to load culture bottles in the machine
and how to operate it. BACT/ALERT 3D is used for detecting the presence or absence of
microorganisms in blood and sterile body fluids. The apparatus represents the automation of a
conventional method. After injecting culture media bottles with a given sample, lab personnel
only need to load the bottles into the system. Both the incubation and reading phases are
automatically and objectively performed. The machine employs a colorimetric sensor and
reflected light to monitor the presence and production of carbon dioxide that is dissolved in the
culture medium. If microorganisms are present in the test sample, carbon dioxide is produced
as the organisms metabolize the substrates in the culture medium. When growth of the
microorganisms produces carbon dioxide, the color of the gas-permeable sensor installed in the
bottom of each culture bottle changes to yellow. It promotes simplified testing process and
reduced “hands-on” time and labor costs which makes it innovative for microbial detection &
sterility testing. As shown in the video, the first thing to do is to input the details such as the
barcode number making sure it matches with that of the charged slip. Then bottles are placed
on the correct area and the charged slip is labelled with the area number where the bottle was
placed. I can see that the system is really easy to use which saves time and offers immediate
bottle recognition, putting you in control of bottle loading and unloading and virtually eliminating
bottle handling errors during microbial detection testing. On the other hand, the efficiency of the
VITEK 2 Compact instrument provides the capacity to help improve therapeutic success and
patient outcomes through reliable microbial identification (ID) and antibiotic susceptibility testing
(AST). The system uses a fluorogenic methodology for organism identification and a
turbidimetric method for susceptibility testing using a 64 well card that is barcoded with
information on card type, expiration date, lot number and unique card identification number. It
lets you enhance laboratory efficiencies with reduced hands-on time and rapid reporting
capabilities. All this, in a cost-effective, space-saving design machine. Not to mention, the
innovative system includes an expanded identification database, the most automated platform
available, rapid results, improved confidence, with minimal training time. Technological
advances made by the VITEK 2 Compact provides faster reporting of culture results, improving
patient care, shorten length of stay and reduce health care costs which is very convenient and
practical especially for the patients.

All in all, today’s global healthcare challenges like rapid spread of infectious diseases
and Multi-Drug Resistant Organisms (MDRO) mean that microbiology labs need to be flexible,
fast and continuous and responsive to provide the right information at the right time. Automation
allows workflow as rapid and reliable as possible, while still providing utmost flexibility and full
traceability. The BACT/ALERT 3D system's automatic, built-in quality control, along with a low
false positive rate and a rapid response time of this system, means you do more in less time
with greater accuracy. It brings the most advanced, innovative microbial growth and detection
technology in the laboratory, providing unsurpassed performance in the detection of a wide
variety of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, and yeasts. With flexible data management
options of an automated microbial detection system, and availability of many different system
options, BACT/ALERT 3D sets the best configuration for the laboratory. Moreover, the VITEK 2
Compact system next-generation platform provides greater automation while increasing safety
and eliminating repetitive manual operations. The rapid response time means results can be
provided more quickly than with manual microbial identification techniques. With automation, it
reduces technical and transcription errors while lab personnel can focus on using their expertise
where it’s most needed.