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AST Workflows

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (AST) is optional. Your lab will only see these workflows if the AST add-on and supporting setup data are enabled.

AST panel

Setup Concepts​

ConceptMeaning
AST PanelA predefined organism/antibiotic matrix
Breakpoints TableRules used to infer Susceptible, Intermediate, or Resistant categories
Microorganism IdentificationAnalysis used to select organisms found in the sample
Selective ReportingControls which organism/antibiotic results appear on the final report

Basic AST Flow​

  1. Assign Microorganism identification to the sample.
  2. Select identified microorganisms.
  3. Add an AST panel to the sample.
  4. Enter zone diameter or MIC values.
  5. Review calculated S/I/R categories.
  6. Use selective reporting if only some results should publish.
  7. Submit, verify, and publish through the normal workflow.

Supported Result Formats​

AST result entry supports plain numbers, comparison operators such as <, >, <=, >=, and MIC fractions such as 1/2 or 1/4 where configured. Exact numeric and fraction values can be used for breakpoint calculation; operator values may require manual category selection.

Not Tested Antibiotics​

If an antibiotic remains in a panel but was not tested, use the configured reject/not-tested workflow. The result should display as not tested instead of implying a missing value.

Caveat​

Do not document AST as available to a customer unless their Clearline tenant has the AST add-on, microorganism setup, antibiotic setup, panels, and report template behavior configured.