The purpose of clinical laboratory procedures is to provide the clinician doing diagnostic work with specific information needed to round out his picture of the disorders he has observed in the patient. Clinical bacteriology can contribute its part by supplying data about the microscopic life involved and the susceptibility of such life to particular drugs. To identify bacterial growth, you must take certain steps that will enable you, through a process of elimination, to choose the microscopic form that fits the findings you have obtained. Steps that are often essential include:

• Observing the type of growth when first isolated on culture media.
• Making a microscopic examination on stained material from an isolated culture of that colony.
• Performing various tests to obtain a list of the characteristics of the organism.
• Making a complete identification of the organism.

Here are some suggestions that may be helpful to you in completing these lessons:

• Read and study each lesson carefully.
• Complete the course lesson by lesson. After completing each lesson, work the exercises at the end of the lesson
• After completing each set of lesson exercises, compare your answers with those on the solution sheet that follows the exercises. If you have answered an exercise incorrectly, check the reference cited after the answer on the solution sheet to determine why your response was not the correct one.

	Lesson 1. Introduction.
	Lesson 2. Microscopic Examination and Cultivation of Bacteria
	Lesson 3. Common Tests and Gram-Positive Cocci
	Lesson 4. Gram-Negative Cocci; Gram-Positive Bacilli
	Lesson 5. Enterobacteriaceae
	Lesson 6. Other Pathogenic Gram-Negative Bacilli and Antibiotic Sensitivity Tests