{"id":864,"date":"2013-02-28T07:12:44","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=864"},"modified":"2013-02-28T16:00:32","modified_gmt":"2013-02-28T03:00:32","slug":"microbiology-committees-what-works-and-what-doesnt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=864","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Microbiology Committees, What works and what doesn&#8217;t&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">These thoughts are\u00a0based on several years experience sitting on microbiology, infection control and antimicrobial stewardship committees.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Committees per se get bad press. Just click <a href=\"http:\/\/www.quotegarden.com\/committees.html\">here<\/a> for some negative quotes on committees! However I don&#8217;t think they are always as bad as made out, and are probably a necessary evil in order to avoid autocracies and dictatorships.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Here is what I think works and doesn&#8217;t work on committees, microbiology committees if you like&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">What works:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Having Internet access and electronic access to policies within the meeting room. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">No excuse for not having this facility\u00a0in the digital age.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Small number of people on the committee. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Any more than six and it&#8217;s an uphill struggle for any kind of consensus. Plus it takes an age for everyone to have their say&#8230;.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Making a decision on every agenda point. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Make deferring a decision a last resort as opposed to the norm. If the decision is &#8220;wrong&#8221; it&#8217;s usually not the end of the world anyway.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Strong chairpersonship. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Striking a balance between giving everyone their say, and moving through the agenda. Also important for getting decisions made, as above.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">&#8220;Guest appearances&#8221;. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Attendance at meetings from people in specialised areas when required can be very useful. Make them feel welcome , and important.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">What doesn&#8217;t work:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Reporting to another committee. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">A committee reporting to another committee can be too much bureaucracy to bear sometimes. Happens all too often in large institutions.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Disengaged committee members. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Committee members that don&#8217;t want to be there of little use. Best to replace with willing participants where possible.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Sub-committees. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Theoretically sounds like it might be a good idea. In my experience though, virtually useless.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Silence. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">A non-contributor in a committee meeting may as well not be there.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Long meetings. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Two hours is my concentration limit. This seems to be getting shorter as I get older!<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">The name <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">&#8220;committee&#8221; as already mentioned does not always carry good vibes. Could consider replacing it with something more original.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">What sometimes works:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">Skype, teleconferencing. <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Obviously gets round the distance issue, but sometimes there is nothing\u00a0quite replaces\u00a0face to face interaction&#8230;.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Michael<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>p.s. I have added a few <a title=\"MCQs\" href=\"http:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?page_id=88\">MCQs<\/a> on Staphylococcus aureus<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>These thoughts are\u00a0based on several years experience sitting on microbiology, infection control and antimicrobial stewardship committees. Committees per se get bad press. Just click here for some negative quotes on committees! However I don&#8217;t think they are always as bad as made out, and are probably a necessary evil in order to avoid autocracies and &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=864\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">&#8220;Microbiology Committees, What works and what doesn&#8217;t&#8221;<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/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":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[104,45],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p37jIp-dW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3149,"url":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=3149","url_meta":{"origin":864,"position":0},"title":"&#8220;Keeping it simple or keeping it accurate&#8230;&#8221;","author":"michael","date":"December 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Let's say you\u00a0are a clinician and you are looking at\u00a0two different microbiology results on two different patients (A&B). 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Here is a brief timeline of his life and major acheivements: ------------------------------------------- 1822 : Pasteur born in Dole, France. 1848 : Pasteur became the professor of chemistry at the University of Strasbourg.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;History of Microbiology&quot;","block_context":{"text":"History of Microbiology","link":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?cat=16"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2643,"url":"https:\/\/microbiologymatters.com\/?p=2643","url_meta":{"origin":864,"position":3},"title":"&#8220;Keeping a Low Profile&#8221;","author":"michael","date":"January 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What do tigecycline, daptomycin, ceftaroline, have in common? They are all relatively new broad spectrum antibiotics, to which various\u00a0MDROs are often susceptible. 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