TO BE A SKILLED MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGIST? – by Dr.T.V.Rao MD

TO BE A SKILLED MEDICAL MICROBIOLOGIST? – by Dr.T.V.Rao MD It Is good we have so many Medical microbiologists in the country unlike in the past it was a part of the Pathology, we had no voice to raise our importance, make the other medical professionals to realise our importance. When I have joined a Institution one the senior professor of Pathology told me you are always little part of the pathology I expressed my hear felt feeling Sir it was before the Independence of India we the Microbiologists and Microbes are Independent and no longer subservient of pathology, To be a microbiologist, you need general intellectual and practical skills and expertise in specific scientific skills required by the discipline. Believe the AIDS has feared the society, and made the society open the eyes there are so many unknown little creatures waiting to bite the humans, I always tell many valuable lives are lost with ignorance on Infectious diseases, however I can boldly say that I have survived because of pandemic of AIDS, and many opportunities are created for Medical microbiologists. The next comes the question how we prove our talents to the profession and many others we need our services in the Medical profession. The younger generation of Medical Microbiologists to bring in change with little basic efforts. A microbiologist must develop a high level of skill using precision instruments to model and identify organisms. Microbiologists must first master rigorous health and protective laboratory practices to ensure a sterile work environment and prevent the accidental release of potentially disease-causing organisms or the contamination of sensitive experiments. Those skills include expert use of microscopes and cutting-edge lab technologies, the ability to simulate conditions and organisms using computers, advanced computation on computers. Never forget the subject of Microbiology more of academic and research oriented A microbiologist needs to be both brilliant and methodical. An ability to think critically and analytically is a prerequisite, as is an advanced understanding and knowledge of computers, and made a tremendous progress in life the emerging computer technologies, why not the young people. Microbiologists must be experts at working with methodologies, statistics and must stay abreast of developments in statistical techniques then it will be easier to predict the Antibiotic sensitivity and resistance patterns and trends to predict for benefit of many clinicians. Even simple Gram’s stain will teach many realties from direct smears and grown cultures, I find yet there is no rapid diagnostic test as Gram staining, we need the patience to examine every aspect of a problem or solution. One has to be familiar with the literature in their field and confident in conducting detailed searches for current trends, journal articles and other published texts relating to their projects and routine work. Never forget the clinicians are in real contact with realties of the patients talk to at least few faculty doctors on the clinical branches. Never get isolated from the realities of the Medical microbiology, be prompt in communicating the results of our work effectively means that microbiologists also should have polished writing, and even speaking, skills in order to present concise and clear reports to peers and the wider public. General skills in project management, time management, working in small teams under deadline pressure, working independently with minimal supervision and being able to interact productively with a variety of people are extremely useful attributes for a microbiologist and are good predictors of professional success. Microbiologists may work as specialized physicians in infectious diseases in epidemiology and immunology or in developing and teaching the good skills for your juniors who can carry the Diagnostic Microbiology to the higher goals, I wish many medical microbiologists to be good bench workers rather than preachers of Microbiology and as I find ideal people talk more than he knows. Never forget how our Microbes are learning to thrive in spite of our best efforts with antibiotics, why not we?

Dr.T.V.Rao MD Professor of microbiology Freelance writer