For seven (long) years I was the only clinical microbiologist in the laboratory I work in. Most of the important decisions in the laboratory rested on me. This made me feel important, even a little indispensable. I got to call the shots, and pay negotiations were straightforward! For a while I was even reluctant to ask management for assistance because I did not want to share my high level of responsibility.

But such a set-up is never good for the laboratory itself. I was on-call 24/7. When I was on leave, the clinical microbiology service suffered. Although I thought I was making the best management decisions for the patients I could never be sure as I had no peers to obtain feedback on my actions, nobody to bounce ideas off, and most importantly no-one to learn from.

Now I have two consultant colleagues and a registrar in place. I can be away from the lab for days/weeks and normal service will continue quite happily without me. If I am unsure about a microbiological problem (most days), then I can “phone a friend”. I am now part of a team, as opposed to being a linchpin.

New Zealand is a small country with a population of around 5 million people. As such, there are only a small number of clinical microbiologists (around 20). Laboratory services are fragmented with a mixture of public and private providers and there are still some lone clinical microbiologists who are working in relative isolation. We need to create better networks and regional services so we are all working as a team together.

The same principles apply within the microbiology lab itself. It might be a nice feeling to be the only one who can read dermatophyte slopes, the only person who can troubleshoot a molecular testing platform, or the only individual who can perform a particular microscopy stain. But if you are the only one, then it is a terrible position for the lab to be in, and they need to take remedial action to rectify this.

There is no place for linchpins in microbiology, even if our egos might tell us otherwise…

Michael