Description

This modular interactive course has been developed to provide clinical laboratory scientists with information about the laboratory diagnosis of Anthrax, Brucella, Burkholderia, Plague, and Tularemia along with an introduction to the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) and Laboratory Biosecurity. Developed by a team of content experts and information technology personnel from the California Department of Health Services (CDHS) Microbial Disease Laboratory (MDL) with instructional design and project management support from the National Laboratory Training Network (NLTN), the course seeks to assist clinical laboratory scientists to better recognize potential agents of bioterrorism that they might encounter during routine laboratory work-ups of sputum, blood and aspirate/biopsy specimens. Laboratory managers may consider using this course to assess competency of their staff to accurately perform the relevant laboratory procedures and to correctly refer specimens for confirmatory testing.

Course Content

The course content consists of interactive modules that provide the learner with information about microorganisms that could be implicated in a bioterrorism event. Additional modules explain the structure and role of the Laboratory Response Network (LRN) and the importance of Laboratory Biosecurity. Each module opens with general information and then proceeds to a story-based simulation in which the learners engage in defined laboratory-related scenarios. Three types of scenarios are included: endemic, confounding and bioterrorism-related. At intervals, the learners make multiple-choice decisions that mimic the decisions they would make in a real job situation. The lessons are made interesting and entertaining by the inclusion of images of the scenario characters and audio of their conversations.

Co-sponsors

California Department of Health Services
Microbial Diseases Laboratory

National Laboratory Training Network