Wayne, Pa — The Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) have announced the upcoming February teleconference: CLSI 2011 Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Update. Each year, CLSI updates standards for antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST). It is important for clinical laboratories to incorporate the new recommendations into routine practice to optimize detection and reporting of antimicrobial resistance.

The speaker at the teleconference will be Janet A. Hindler, MCLS, MT(ASCP), a clinical microbiologist from the UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.  Two dates are available for the AST teleconference: February 2 from 1-2:30 pm (ET) and February 3 from 3-4:30 pm (ET).

This January the annual update of the M100 tables was published. M100-S21 includes several new and revised tables, such as those containing suggestions for confirming uncommon results. It also contains the recently modified carbapenem breakpoints for Enterobacteriaceae. These and other new recommendations found in M100-S21 will be highlighted during this program. Continuing education is available for 1.5 credit hours.

At the conclusion of this program, participants will be able to:

  • Identify the major changes found in the new CLSI document M100-S21;

  • Design a strategy for implementing the new practice guidelines into their laboratory practices;

  • Develop a communication strategy for informing clinical staff of updates.

More details and registration information for the upcoming teleconferences can be found at www.aphl.org/clsi.

SOURCE: Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute