Gilligan Peter H
Clinical Microbiology-Immunology Laboratories, UNC Health Care, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA
J Clin Microbiol. 2017 Sep;55(9):2583-2589. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00658-17. Epub 2017 Jun 28.
The "invisible army" of clinical microbiologists is facing major changes and challenges. The rate of change in both the science and technology is accelerating with no end in sight, putting pressure on our army to learn and adapt as never before. Health care funding in the United States is undergoing dramatic change which will require a new set of assumptions about how clinical microbiology is practiced here. A major challenge facing the discipline is the replacement of a generation of clinical microbiologists. In my opinion, it is incumbent on us in the invisible army to continue to work with the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) in meeting the future challenges faced by our discipline. In this commentary, I will first discuss some recent history of clinical microbiology within ASM and then some current challenges we face.
临床微生物学家这一“隐形大军”正面临重大变革与挑战。科学技术的变革速度不断加快，看不到尽头，这给我们这支队伍带来了前所未有的学习和适应压力。美国的医疗保健资金正在经历巨大变化，这将需要对临床微生物学在此地的实践方式做出一系列新的假设。该学科面临的一项重大挑战是一代临床微生物学家的更替。在我看来，我们这支隐形大军有责任继续与美国微生物学会（ASM）合作，应对本学科未来面临的挑战。在这篇评论中，我将首先探讨ASM内部临床微生物学的一些近期历史，然后讨论我们目前面临的一些挑战。
