Wash Your Hands Before You Pick Your Nose!

Wash your hands before you pick your nose! Those were the parting words from our microbiology lab director.

I started fellowship in the Microbiology lab. 3 weeks of bliss compared to what was to come. The goals were to learn the fundamentals of clinical microbiology, to become better consultants by being able to actually interpret laboratory results, cultures and susceptibility data, to be able to apply them appropriately to clinical settings, and to gain an understanding of the capacity of the laboratory.

I participated in the workup of specimens and realized how difficult it can be to actually determine if a particular bacteria, fungi, or virus is present in a specimen. We all imagine that the pathogen is holding up a big banner with “Hi, I’m Staph aureus, look at me” in bold letters, but no, not quite. Some pathogens are not too difficult to identify, especially the ones we encounter often, like Staph aureus actually. Others need multiple lab technologists to view the sample and agree on what it is. Some specimens even need the head of the lab who is either an MD or PhD in the field of microbiology to check them. My month in the microbiology lab certainly has given me lots of respect for these people. It’s not easy and there’s actually a lot of work that goes into preparing a clinical specimen, be it stool, blood, urine, or sputum, so that one can actually isolate and identify the pathogen.

Which brings me to the breaks. Umm, it seemed the techs went on break every hour or so. To be fair, what else do they have to do while they have a sample cooking? But still. It was quite weird because I couldn’t imagine going on so many breaks as a clinician. We are typically running around all day like chickens with their heads cut off!