ABSTRACT
Diagnostic microbiology has been one of the most labor- and skill-intensive sections of the clinical laboratory. An attempt to provide rapid microbiology information has been hindered by the need to obtain growth on conventional primary isolation media, prior to organism identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. The automated antimicrobial susceptibility test systems probably have been evaluated more than any other test procedures in the microbiology laboratory. Results indicate that the percentages of very major and major errors are minimal, pathogens with unusual patterns of susceptibility are usually detected, and warnings of possible problems are indicated by some test systems. A major accomplishment of automation in microbiology has been the introduction of microcomputers with the automated systems. Instruments may be used to accomplish tasks which constitute a majority of the workload in most diagnostic microbiology laboratories. The parameters, accuracy, reduced turnaround time, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness have been well addressed by available instruments.
