Table 1.

Professional standards and the role of the clinical microbiologist

Core function	Role of the clinical microbiologist
Laboratory diagnosis	• Hospital and community infections
	• Guidelines, e.g. appropriate specimens for which infections
	• Screening for the appropriateness of specimens
	• Patient focused, clinically relevant with standard operating procedures
	• Interpretation of results
Clinical consultation	• Patient focused
	• Solicited and unsolicited advice
	• Incidental and regular, e.g. intensive care unit ward rounds
Laboratory management	• Strategic planning with scientific and other staff
	• Prioritising resources with input to purchasing
	• Human resources policy, from applications to the ageing workforce
	• Staff health and safety
	• Quality assurance and accreditation
Multidisciplinary protocols and guidelines	• Prevention, diagnosis and treatment of infection
	• Antimicrobial stewardship
	• Committee work, e.g. antimicrobial surveillance, antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention and control in hospital and in the community
Infection prevention and control	• Leadership within and outside hospitals with other professionals
	• Day-to-day advice
	• Outbreak management
	• Collection and interpretation of surveillance data for action
Public health	• Collaboration with local, regional and national agencies
	• Notification of laboratory surveillance data
	• Collection of national surveillance data
Communication, education and training	• Provision of information to patients and the public
	• Undergraduate and postgraduate education and training for medical doctors, scientists, nurses etc.
	• Conduct and dissemination of clinical and laboratory results
Research and development	• Leadership in larger institutions or contribution from smaller institutions to research programmes
	• Evaluation of new diagnostic or other techniques
	• Clinical trials of pathogenesis, antimicrobial chemotherapy etc.
	• Liaison with academic institutions/universities