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Elements and Performance Criteria

  1. Prepare culture media
  2. Sterilise media
  3. Pour, label and store media
  4. Perform quality control checks
  5. Maintain work area and equipment to prevent cross-infection and contamination

Required Skills

Required skills

Required skills include

calculating mass and volume

measuring accurately

making media to support growth of the relevant microorganism or tissue

preventing crosscontamination

following enterprise procedures consistently

labelling and storing culture media according to enterprise procedures

accurately recording data

reporting noncompliance anomalies or out of specification results

sorting collecting treating recycling or disposing of waste

using appropriate personal protective equipment

Required knowledge

Required knowledge includes

basic microbiological concepts and terminology such as growth rates in culture production of gas and haemolysis of red cells in media

growth requirements of microorganisms bacteria fungi protozoans viruses and multicellular parasites in terms of their laboratory culture

the purpose content and features of culture media and the relationship between the correct preparationof culture media and the optimal growth of organisms or cells

nature properties and use of a range of biological media

the relationship between sterile practices hygiene procedures and the ability to obtain growth free of contamination

the importance of physical requirements such as pH and temperature on optimal growth of organisms and cells

the effect of inappropriate storage on culture media quality and performance

cleaning and sanitising requirements of equipment and work area

relevant health safety and environment requirements

Evidence Required

The Evidence Guide provides advice on assessment and must be read in conjunction with the performance criteria required skills and knowledge range statement and the Assessment Guidelines for the Training Package

Overview of assessment

Critical aspects for assessment and evidence required to demonstrate competency in this unit

Assessors should ensure candidates can

prepare culture media which is free of contamination to facilitate the optimal growth of organisms and cells

use appropriate sterilisation techniques such as maintaining adequate space between containers

perform poststerilisation procedures such as dispensing or adding using aseptic technique

ensure the sterilised media has cooled down sufficiently to ensure that heat labile constituents such as blood hormones or antibodies are not inactivated when added to the media

consistently follow enterprise procedures

report noncompliances anomalies or out of specification results

Context of and specific resources for assessment

This unit of competency is to be assessed in the workplace or simulated workplace environment

This unit of competency may be assessed with

MSLA Participate in laboratoryfield workplace safety

MSL943002A Participate in laboratory/field workplace safety

MSLA Perform aseptic techniques

MSL973004A Perform aseptic techniques.

Resources may include

work schedule and enterprise procedures including advice on safe work practices

relevant equipment and personal protective equipment

MSDS

Method of assessment

The following assessment methods are suggested

review of quality assurance results and examination of batches of media prepared by the candidate

observation of the candidate preparing culture media

written andor oral questioning to assess underpinning knowledge

In all cases practical assessment should be supported by questions to assess underpinning knowledge and those aspects of competency which are difficult to assess directly

Where applicable reasonable adjustment must be made to work environments and training situations to accommodate ethnicity age gender demographics and disability

Access must be provided to appropriate learning andor assessment support when required

The language literacy and numeracy demands of assessment should not be greater than those required to undertake the unit of competency in a work like environment

This competency in practice

Industry representatives have provided the case studies below to illustrate the practical application of this unit of competency and show its relevance in a workplace setting

Food processing

A laboratory assistants task was to prepare and pour agar plates in readiness for milk sampling The assistant collected all the equipment and material needed to make an agar plate and ensured the working area was suitably prepared The agar solution was carefully prepared and poured into a large conical flask prior to sterilisation in the autoclave On completion of the sterilisation cycle the agar was cooled to C in a water bath It was then poured into the plates after flaming the neck of the flask The lids were quickly replaced on the plates to minimise contamination The plates were then stored Any excess plates were bagged in a laminar flow unit and then placed in the fridge The equipment was hot washed and the benches swabbed with ethanol solution

Biomedical

Media preparation is a routine task of the technical assistant The methods and standard procedures are all documented but common working knowledge and standard donts are not always written into the methods Some ingredients such as labile nutrients and antibiotics must be added under sterile conditions after the basic ingredients have been mixed and autoclaved In one laboratory there is a list of ingredients not to be autoclaved posted on the notice board in the media recipe book and for good measure on the autoclave itself One day a technical assistant who was preparing media added all the ingredients including the glucose then autoclaved all L of it The technical assistant learned the consequences of not paying full attention to the procedure the hard way and spent most of the day removing the toffee residue from inside the autoclave


Range Statement

The range statement relates to the unit of competency as a whole. It allows for different work environments and situations that may affect performance. Bold italicised wording, if used in the performance criteria, is detailed below. Essential operating conditions that may be present with training and assessment (depending on the work situation, needs of the candidate, accessibility of the item, and local industry and regional contexts) may also be included.

Codes of practice

Where reference is made to industry codes of practice, and/or Australian/international standards, it is expected the latest version will be used

Standards, codes procedures and/or enterprise requirements

Standards, codes procedures and/or enterprise requirements may include:

Australian and international standards, such as:

AS/NZS 2243 Set:2006 Safety in laboratories set

AS/NZS 2982.1:1997 Laboratory design and construction - General requirements

AS/NZS 4187:2003 Cleaning, disinfecting and sterilising reusable medical and surgical instruments and equipment and maintenance of associated environments in health care facilities

AS/NZS ISO 14000 Set:2005 Environmental management standards set

Australia New Zealand Food Standards (ANZFS) Code

Australian code of good manufacturing practice for medicinal products (GMP)

Australian Dangerous Goods Code

client and product specifications

HB 9-1994 Occupational personal protection

manufacturer's instructions or verbal direction from laboratory manager, supervisor or senior technician

material safety data sheets (MSDS)

National Code of Practice for the labelling of workplace substances [NOHSC:2012 (1994)]

occupational health and safety (OHS) national standards and codes of practice

operation and maintenance manuals for automated media preparation equipment

principles of good laboratory practice (GLP)

production schedules and instructions

standard operating procedures (SOPs)

Equipment

Equipment may include:

balance

pH meter

hot plate stirrer and Bunsen burners

autoclave and Arnold steamer

membrane filtration equipment

measuring cylinders, flasks and glassware and Petri dishes

distilled water apparatus

automatic agar pourers

labelling equipment

refrigerators

sterilisation indicators

self-refilling syringes

Falcon dishes

media storage bottles and tissue culture bottles

Media

Media maybe prepared from:

formulated powders obtained from microbiological companies

first principles under supervision of a technical officer or scientist

Cell and tissue culture media

Cell and tissue culture media may include:

agars

broths

solutions

slopes

basic balanced salt solutions, such as Hank's or Kreb-Ringer's

deeps

enriched media, such as blood sugar, chocolate agar, tetrathionate broth and selenite broth

control media

differential media, such as eosin-methylene blue agar and MacConkey's agar

selective media, such as deoxycholate-citrate agar, Lowenstein-Jensen medium

tissue culture media

labile constituents, such as blood, hormones or antibodies

Sterilisation techniques

Sterilisation techniques may include:

autoclaving

steam and membrane filtration

boiling

microwaving

radiation

high temperature

high pressure steam

gas

chemical treatments

Quality control checks

Quality control checks may include:

streaking out of cultures to a single colony

lawn cultures

Hazards

Hazards may include:

micro-organisms and agents associated with soil, air, water, blood and blood products, and human or animal tissue and fluids

sources of heat, such as ovens, burners and autoclaves

sharps and broken glassware

fluids under pressure and such as steam

radiation used for sterilisation

Safe work practices

Safe work practices may include:

use of MSDS

use of personal protective equipment, such as safety glasses, gloves and coveralls

use of biohazard containers and laminar flow cabinets

correct labelling of reagents and hazardous materials

handling and storing hazardous materials and equipment in accordance with labels, MSDS, manufacturer's instructions, and enterprise procedures and regulations

allowing the chamber pressure of the autoclave to return to zero and temperature to cool to 80-90ºC before opening autoclave door to prevent boil over or plugs/caps being blown off flasks or tubes

regular cleaning and/or decontaminating equipment and work areas

Occupational health and safety (OHS) and environmental management requirements

OHS and environmental management requirements:

all operations must comply with enterprise OHS and environmental management requirements, which may be imposed through state/territory or federal legislation - these requirements must not be compromised at any time

all operations assume the potentially hazardous nature of samples and require standard precautions to be applied

where relevant, users should access and apply current industry understanding of infection control issued by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and State and Territory Departments of Health