Microbial Identification in Wounds

Once a clinical wound infection has been diagnosed, the identification of infecting organisms is crucial to choosing the correct antibiotic as well as to antibiotic stewardship. This session will review techniques for identifying aerobic, anaerobic, and atypical bacteria, as well as fungi in wounds, including culture techniques and molecular-based diagnostics. Emerging diagnostics for identifying biofilm and point of care testing will be reviewed. Lastly, how to interpret culture reports will be discussed.