Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Jan 18;11(2):122.
doi: 10.3390/antibiotics11020122.

Clinical and Financial Impact of Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing in Blood Cultures

Felix Roth  1 , Nathan D Leedahl  1 , David D Leedahl  1 , Dubert M Guerrero  1   2
Affiliations

Clinical and Financial Impact of Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing in Blood Cultures

Felix Roth et al. Antibiotics (Basel). .

Abstract

The rapid identification of pathogens that cause bloodstream infections plays a vital role in the modern clinical microbiology laboratory. Despite demonstrating a significant reduction in turnaround time and a significant effect on clinical decisions, most methods do not provide complete antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) information. We employed rapid identification (ID) and AST using the Accelerate PhenoTest on positive blood cultures containing Gram-negative bacilli. The length of stay (LOS) significantly decreased from an average of 12.1 days prior to implementation to 6.6 days post-implementation (p = 0.02), representing potential total savings of USD 666,208.00. All-cause mortality did not differ significantly, 27 (19%) versus 18 (12%), p = 0.11. We also observed an associated decrease in the use of broad-spectrum antimicrobials, including meropenem and quinolones. The implementation of a rapid ID and AST method, along with a well-established antimicrobial stewardship program, has the potential to decrease LOS, broad-spectrum antibiotic use, and costs to the healthcare system, with no observable impact on mortality.

Keywords: antimicrobial susceptibility testing; blood culture; rapid identification.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Kaye K.S., Marchaim D., Chen T.Y., Baures T., Anderson D.J., Choi Y., Sloane R., Schmader K.E. Effect of nosocomial bloodstream infections on mortality, length of stay, and hospital costs in older adults. J. Am. Geriatr. Soc. 2014;62:306–311. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12634. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Niven D.J., Fick G.H., Kirkpatrick A.W., Grant V., Laupland K.B. Cost and outcomes of nosocomial bloodstream infections complicating major traumatic injury. J. Hosp. Infect. 2010;76:296–299. doi: 10.1016/j.jhin.2010.06.004. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jones G.R., Lowes J.A. The systemic inflammatory response syndrome as a predictor of bacteraemia and outcome from sepsis. QJM. 1996;89:515–522. doi: 10.1093/qjmed/89.7.515. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kumar A., Ellis P., Arabi Y., Roberts D., Light B., Parrillo J.E., Dodek P., Wood G., Kumar A., Simon D., et al. Cooperative Antimicrobial Therapy of Septic Shock Database Research Group. Initiation of inappropriate antimicrobial therapy results in a fivefold reduction of survival in human septic shock. Chest. 2009;136:1237–1248. doi: 10.1378/chest.09-0087. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mariani P., Breidenbach J., Roth F. Economic Impact of Microarray-Based Rapid Detection of Gram-Positive Organisms in Blood Cultures. J. Med. Microb. Diagn. 2015;S3:1. doi: 10.4172/2161-0703.S3-009. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources