Carey Jacquay, lab manager, Parkview Health, takes us behind the scenes in a very important area of the hospital. The Microbiology Lab, located inside Parkview Regional Medical Center is a unique department servicing all of our hospitals, as well as nursing home facilities and doctor’s offices. There are 28 scientists in the Microbiology Lab, which operates 24 hours a day and runs approximately 400,000 tests per year.
When your doctor suspects you have an infection due to a bacteria, virus, fungus or parasite, he or she will collect a specimen and send it to our lab. The team processes, throat and nasal swabs, urine and stool specimens, and tissue and other blood and body fluids.
The scientists will eventually identify what’s causing the infection and then test it to see what will kill it. While this can take as little as a few hours or as long as six weeks, it’s worth it for the physician to know the most effective form of treatment.
Using culture plates, incubators, microscopes and complex molecular machines, the team in the Microbiology Lab is providing an important element of the diagnosis process, and helping you get better faster.
