{"id":4076,"date":"2023-09-26T14:01:45","date_gmt":"2023-09-26T01:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=4076"},"modified":"2023-09-26T14:01:45","modified_gmt":"2023-09-26T01:01:45","slug":"linchpins-and-why-you-should-avoid-being-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=4076","title":{"rendered":"“Linchpins and why you should avoid being one”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a> 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

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<\/a>, 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no place for linchpins in microbiology, even if our egos might tell us otherwise…<\/span><\/p>\n

Michael<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 … Continue reading “Linchpins and why you should avoid being one”<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"Linchpins and why you should avoid being one\"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[217,491,593],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p37jIp-13K","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2842,"url":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=2842","url_meta":{"origin":4076,"position":0},"title":"“The 80\/20 Microbiologist”","author":"michael","date":"May 11, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Pareto (1848-1923),\u00a0was an Italian economist, and\u00a0is famous for having introduced the concept of the 80\/20 rule, the concept that 80% of effects are governed by just 20% of the causes. I am a big believer in the 80\/20 rule, although the ratio is of course an arbitrary one. How can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"clinical benefit\"","block_context":{"text":"clinical benefit","link":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?tag=clinical-benefit"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/microbiologymatters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/vilfredo-pareto-1848-1923-240x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4110,"url":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=4110","url_meta":{"origin":4076,"position":1},"title":"“Playing the Odds”","author":"michael","date":"November 5, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I spent a lot of my medical student days working part-time in the bookmakers, where managing odds and probability underpin the industry. Mathematics was my favourite subject at school, and within that field, probability was my favourite sub-topic. 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