The views expressed in this Editorial do not necessarily reflect the views of the journal or of ASM.
EDITORIAL
Laboratory automation in clinical microbiology has the potential to revolutionize laboratory operations (1, 2). A number of clinical microbiology laboratories have automated part or most of their work and found that testing can be performed accurately, with reduced turnaround times, improvements in laboratory efficiency, and increased flexibility in the level of skill required to perform work in the laboratory (3–7). Even highly complex tasks such as visual interpretation of Gram stains, of culture results, and of susceptibility tests can be automated (4, 8–14). Use of total laboratory automation has the potential to allow staff to perform more-complex tasks that will take advantage of their expertise (1, 15). It also has the potential to affect laboratory needs for expert technologists. How might clinical technologists view the possible effects of total laboratory automation? Read the comic strip to find out.
- Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.
