Microbiology

From The Critics

Reviewer: Roberta B. Carey, PhD(Loyola University Medical Center)
Description: This is a lab instruction manual covering the basics in diagnostic bacteriology, mycology, parasitology, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. It is the third volume in the Clinical Lab Manual Series.
Purpose: This book is designed for use by instructors in vocational schools, community colleges, or clinical laboratories to train medical laboratory technicians. It updates basic protocols with new methods and helpful hints to avoid common lab errors.
Audience: The simple style and concise format of the text are appropriate for the beginning student in the field of microbiology or the instructor designing lab exercises for a class.
Features: Black-and-white illustrations of plating techniques, organism morphology, and parasite structure are helpful. The book lacks any color photographs to demonstrate proper Gram stain reactions or biochemical reactions, which would be most helpful to students who have not seen these tests previously. The table of contents is user-friendly. References are restricted to other texts in the field rather than including original journal articles, which may be confusing to the student at this level.
Assessment: The book is divided into six areas of study, each with its own learning objectives, glossary, lab exercises, and review questions. Answers to the review questions are included in the back so that students can use the book for self-study. It is a useful text for instructors and students of medical technology. The section for antimicrobial susceptibility testing includes classification of antimicrobials and their range of activity, which is a complex area often lacking in texts for the student, but a critical concept for the medical technologist. This book is less important as a reference and more useful as a text that a student would purchase to use in a course in practical laboratory microbiology.

Roberta B. Carey

This is a lab instruction manual covering the basics in diagnostic bacteriology, mycology, parasitology, and antimicrobial susceptibility testing. It is the third volume in the Clinical Lab Manual Series. This book is designed for use by instructors in vocational schools, community colleges, or clinical laboratories to train medical laboratory technicians. It updates basic protocols with new methods and helpful hints to avoid common lab errors. The simple style and concise format of the text are appropriate for the beginning student in the field of microbiology or the instructor designing lab exercises for a class. Black-and-white illustrations of plating techniques, organism morphology, and parasite structure are helpful. The book lacks any color photographs to demonstrate proper Gram stain reactions or biochemical reactions, which would be most helpful to students who have not seen these tests previously. The table of contents is user-friendly. References are restricted to other texts in the field rather than including original journal articles, which may be confusing to the student at this level. The book is divided into six areas of study, each with its own learning objectives, glossary, lab exercises, and review questions. Answers to the review questions are included in the back so that students can use the book for self-study. It is a useful text for instructors and students of medical technology. The section for antimicrobial susceptibility testing includes classification of antimicrobials and their range of activity, which is a complex area often lacking in texts for the student, but a critical concept for the medical technologist. This book is lessimportant as a reference and more useful as a text that a student would purchase to use in a course in practical laboratory microbiology.

3 Stars from Doody