Culture tests are tests performed on an isolate (rather than directly on a specimen). Culture tests tend to fall into two categories: those used to help identify an isolate, such as the API Panel Test or Oxidase Test, etc., and those used to detect resistance enzymes, such as the Betalactamase Test or Carbapenemase Test. While the default system configuration includes an initial set of culture tests, including those just mentioned (see typical form below), these can be modified in any way, renamed, or completely removed if not useful.
Furthermore, new culture tests can be derived from this initial set and altered to form completely new tests. Culture test creation and modification is covered comprehensively in section <link>?????????????</link>.
The only field that is built into every test and cannot be removed is the Display in Report toggle. This ensures that it is always possible to include or exclude a specific direct test result from a clinical report. It is, however, possible to move this field to a different position on the form.
Before results for a particular culture test can be entered, the culture test must first be added to a culture (or isolate, if there is more than one isolate for a given culture). This can be done manually (see Add a Culture Test), at any time (subject to specimen state and permissions), or automatically, through a Culture Type Culture Test Default rule (see ???????).
Once associated with a culture, a culture test can then be updated (see Edit a Culture Test) or deleted (see Delete a Culture Test) at any time, again, subject to specimen state and permissions.
For culture tests that are associated with the detection of resistance enzymes, shortcuts have been provided for the key fields on the AST form (see ?????? and image below). This is a convenience feature as resistance enzymes are typically detected while performing susceptibility tests.
If one (or more) of these fields is set or changed before saving the AST form, the corresponding culture test is either: created and populated with the appropriate value, if the test had not already been added to the culture; or updated, if it had been previously added.
While the Display in Report field is set as part of each culture test form, approvers have final control over this setting as part of the approval process (see ??????).
Finally, to accommodate larger laboratories in which one or more technicians may specialize in performing certain culture tests (as opposed to other aspects of specimen testing), tests can be located, edited and deleted by means of a dedicated culture test management page (see ??????). This removes the need for such technicians to go into specimen records to find specific tests to conduct and add results for.