The Role of Microbiology

Abstract

As stated before: the Netherlands perform well in the field of infection prevention. Doctors prescribe relatively few antibiotics, so the resistance rates are low compared to almost every other country. Equally important is that the Netherlands have a close network of laboratories for medical microbiology. More than two-thirds of the hospitals have their own laboratory for medical microbiology. All the others cooperate closely with regional labs. Every hospital employs several clinical microbiologists. This tightly knit web of laboratories and medical specialists guarantees high-quality work which is reflected in the annual data on antimicrobial consumption and surveillance of antibiotic resistance. Ongoing financially motivated attempts to transfer the diagnostic work of the different microbiology laboratories into huge and more cost-efficient laboratories are a threat to the quality of Dutch medical microbiology. Earlier experiences in Germany and several other countries seem to prove that point. Understandable efforts to control the costs of health care and that of clinical microbiology can undermine its quality. It is the problem of all forms of prevention. One knows what it costs, but is very hard to come up with a figure reflecting the value of the benefits of good (infection) prevention.