Effective Communication of Antimicrobial Susceptibility Data by Pathologists to Clinicians

Abstract

Despite predictions in the mid-twentieth century that bacterial and viral diseases would be wiped out by the year 2000, microbial infections in the early years of twenty-first century have remained major causes of morbidity and mortality. The emergence and spread of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria in the hospital environment, and more recently in community settings, augmented by frequent reports in the lay press, has heightened the awareness of primary care physicians as well as specialists in the importance of surveillance for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria, and that the administration of antimicrobial chemotherapy should be guided by in vitro susceptibility data whenever possible. The increased attention focused on microbiology data by clinicians has a secondary effect in that it mandates involvement of the clinical pathologist as a leader in how laboratory information is obtained and communicated to physicians in the most accurate, timely, and effective manner. Keeping abreast of the epidemiologic trends in antimicrobial resistance locally and nationally, maintaining awareness of current guidelines and recommendations for susceptibility testing, communication of data in an understandable format, and regular interactions with clinicians require considerable time allotment by the pathologist in order to ensure optimum patient management and fiscal responsibility to the hospital or laboratory that generates the data.