Lab type
Microbiology
Culture, sensitivities and staged reports, with every phone call recorded.
Who it is for
Diagnostic bacteriology laboratories in hospitals and clinics, including smaller services that process urines, swabs and blood cultures every day but cannot justify a specialist microbiology system. It also suits laboratories in low- and middle-income countries that want structured culture and susceptibility records in place of paper bench sheets.
Microbiology results arrive in stages and the important ones are phoned long before the final report. VipLIMS lets you issue preliminary, interim and final reports on the same request and records each telephoned result, so the clinical team and your audit see the same story.
A day with VipLIMS
- A GP practice sends a mid-stream urine with a request through the referrer portal. The sample is received, numbered, for example
MU26-031877, and the TAT clock starts. - Microscopy is recorded the same day. Next morning, culture shows a significant growth; the organism and colony count are entered on the request.
- Susceptibilities are recorded as S, I or R against the breakpoint version your laboratory uses, and the reporter writes the susceptibility section to suit the clinical setting.
- Meanwhile a blood culture flags positive overnight. The Gram stain is phoned to the ward, the call is logged, and a preliminary report is released.
- The clinical microbiologist adds treatment advice and an infection-control note where needed, then authorises the final report.
- The PDF report is released to the requester in the portal. Each later stage becomes a new version, so the earlier reports remain on record.
What the pack sets up
Ready on day one, editable afterwards
Case types and numbering
| Case type | Example number | Routine target | Urgent target |
|---|---|---|---|
| Urine microscopy and culture | MU26-000042 | 2 days | 1 day |
| Blood culture | BC26-000042 | 5 days | 5 days |
| Swabs, pus and respiratory | MS26-000042 | 3 days | 2 days |
| Faeces | MF26-000042 | 3 days | 1 day |
| Cerebrospinal fluid | MC26-00042 | 2 days | 2 h |
| Mycobacteria | TB26-00042 | 56 days | 56 days |
Example tests
| Test | Unit (UCUM) | Example reference range |
|---|---|---|
| Urine white cells | 10*6/L | ≤ 10 ×10⁶/L |
| Urine red cells | 10*6/L | ≤ 10 ×10⁶/L |
| Vancomycin MIC | mg/L | |
| Time to positivity | h | |
| CSF white cells | 10*6/L | ≤ 5 ×10⁶/L |
| CSF red cells | 10*6/L |
Cell-count thresholds in this pack are illustrative adult examples only. Susceptibility categories must be interpreted with the breakpoint version (EUCAST, or CLSI under your own licence) your laboratory has selected. Every laboratory must verify and replace these values with its own validated criteria before reporting.
Report sections
- Clinical details required
- Microscopy
- Culture required
- Susceptibility
- Comment
- Infection prevention and control
Specimen types
- Urine, mid-stream
- Urine, catheter
- Blood culture, aerobic bottle
- Blood culture, anaerobic bottle
- Blood culture, paediatric bottle
- Wound swab
- Throat swab
- Screening swab (e.g. MRSA, CPE)
- Pus or aspirate
- Sputum
- Faeces
- Cerebrospinal fluid
- Sputum for mycobacteria
Words your team will see
- Reporter
- Clinical microbiologist
- Sender
- Requester
- Work item
- Request
- Subject
- Patient
- Specimen
- Sample
- Output
- Report
Good practice built in
- Preliminary, interim and final reports as versions of one request, with nothing overwritten.
- Organism lists and S/I/R entry with EUCAST breakpoint tables available; CLSI tables can be used under your own licence.
- Turnaround targets that reflect real incubation times, from 24-hour urines to 6-week mycobacterial cultures.
- A full audit trail of results, phone calls, authorisation and amendments.
- Supports workflows that laboratories accredited to ISO 15189 need, with SNOMED CT organism coding and UCUM units.
- Mandatory two-factor sign-in, encryption at rest and a full export of your data whenever you want it.
Questions labs ask
How advanced is the susceptibility module?
It is deliberately basic: S, I or R per agent, with MIC values where you record them. Expert rules, automatic cascade reporting and isolate-level tracking are not built in yet.
Can it connect to our blood culture system or MALDI-TOF?
Not yet. There is no direct instrument interface at present, so results are entered on the request.
Can we export data for AMR surveillance such as WHONET or GLASS?
A dedicated WHONET export is not available yet. You can export all your results and use them in your surveillance tools.
Does it notify public health automatically?
No. The report has an infection prevention and control section where you can record that a notification was made, but the notification itself follows your local process.
Try the microbiology pack
Create your laboratory, choose this pack, load the sample cases and see how it fits your work. Free, with no card.