Real Life Clinical Impact of Antimicrobial Stewardship Actions on the Blood Culture Workflow from a Microbiology Laboratory
Background: Accelerating the diagnosis of bacteremia is one of the biggest challenges in clinical microbiology departments. The fast establishment of a correct treatment is determinant on bacteremic patients’ outcomes. Our objective was to evaluate the impact of antimicrobial therapy and clinical outcomes of a rapid blood culture workflow protocol in positive blood cultures with Gram-negative bacilli (GNB).
Methods: A quasi-experimental before-after study was performed with two groups: (i) control group (conventional work-protocol) and (ii) intervention group (rapid workflow-protocol: rapid identification by Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time-Of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) from bacterial pellet without overnight incubation). Patients were divided into different categories according to the type of intervention over treatment. Outcomes were compared between both groups.
Results: A total of 313 patients with GNB-bacteremia were included: 125 patients in the control group and 188 in the intervention. The time from positive blood culture to intervention on antibiotic treatment decreased from 2.0 days in the control group to 1.0 in the intervention group (p < 0.001). On the maintenance of correct empirical treatment, the control group reported 2.0 median days until the clinical decision, while in the intervention group was 1.0 (p < 0.001). In the case of treatment de-escalation, a significant difference between both groups (4.0 vs. 2.0, p < 0.001) was found. A decreasing trend on the change from inappropriate treatments to appropriate ones was observed: 3.5 vs. 1.5; p = 0.12. No significant differences were found between both groups on 7-days mortality or on readmissions in the first 30-days.
Conclusions: Routine implementation of a rapid workflow protocol anticipates the report of antimicrobial susceptibility testing results in patients with GNB-bacteremia, decreasing the time to effective and optimal antibiotic therapy.
Total Laboratory Automation and Three Shifts Reduce Turnaround Time of Cerebrospinal Fluid Culture Results in the Chinese Clinical Microbiology Laboratory
Background: Total laboratory automation (TLA) has the potential to reduce specimen processing time, optimize workflow, and decrease turnaround time (TAT). The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the TAT of our laboratory has changed since the adoption of TLA, as well as to optimize laboratory workflow, improve laboratory testing efficiency, and provide better services of clinical diagnosis and treatment.
Materials and methods: Laboratory data was extracted from our laboratory information system in two 6-month periods: pre-TLA (July to December 2019) and post-TLA (July to December 2020), respectively.
Results: The median TAT for positive cultures decreased significantly from pre-TLA to post-TLA (65.93 vs 63.53, P<0.001). For different types of cultures, The TAT of CSF changed the most (86.76 vs 64.30, P=0.007), followed by sputum (64.38 vs 61.41, P<0.001), urine (52.10 vs 49,57, P<0.001), blood (68.49 vs 66.60, P<0.001). For Ascites and Pleural fluid, there was no significant difference (P>0.05). Further analysis found that the incidence of broth growth only for pre-TLA was 12.4% (14/133), while for post-TLA, it was 3.4% (4/119). The difference was statistically significant (P=0.01). The common isolates from CSF samples were Cryptococcus neoformans, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumonia.
Conclusion: Using TLA and setting up three shifts shortened the TAT of our clinical microbiology laboratory, especially for CSF samples.
Development of an In-House Rapid Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Protocol for Positive Blood Culture and Its Implementation in Routine Microbiology Laboratories
- Bloodstream infections (BSI) are associated with high morbidity and mortality and remain a leading cause of death. Blood culture (BC) including the identification and the antimicrobial susceptibility testing of the causative microorganisms should be performed as soon as possible. In this study, we developed an in-house rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing (rAST) protocol for positive BC. First, the rAST was performed in the simulated positive BC of standard strains (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853) at three different times to assess the reproducibility and operability by dispensing four drops of BC broth onto a Mueller-Hinton agar plate after a positive signal.
- Furthermore, the rAST was performed in clinical positive BCs. The results of rAST at 4, 6, 8, and 18 h of incubation were compared with results of the standard 16- to 20-h disk diffusion method, and the preliminary breakpoints of the rAST method were established according to the inhibition diameter of sensitive strains and resistant strains. Finally, the rAST was performed in the simulated positive BC of clinical strains to evaluate the availability of the preliminary breakpoints.
- The rAST results of standard strains were distributed evenly at three different times. Among the 202 clinical strains used to establish the preliminary breakpoints, the number of zone diameters that could be read and interpreted (60, 87, 98, and 100%) increased with incubation time (4, 6, 8, and 18 h), and the categorical agreement was acceptable, with total error rates of 3.0, 2.3, 2.1, and 1.3% at 4, 6, 8, and 18 h of incubation, respectively. In conclusion, the in-house rAST protocol for positive BC can be implemented in routine laboratories. It provides reliable antimicrobial susceptibility testing results for BSI pathogens after 4-6 h of incubation.
Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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Agar, low gel strength, suitable for microbiology |
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DiscoveryProbe? Microbiology & Virology-related Compounds Panel |
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BSA Cohn Fraction V (Microbiological Grade) |
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Microbiological Incubator Compact 18L |
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WHATMAN(R) MICROBIOLOGICAL FILTRATION SY |
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Fraction V Microbiological grade BSA powder |
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Fraction V Microbiological grade BSA powder |
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Fraction V Microbiological grade BSA powder |
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Fraction V Microbiological grade BSA powder |
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SafeFAST Elite 212 Class II Type B2 Microbiological Safety Cabinet |
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SafeFAST Classic 209 D Class II Microbiological Safety Cabinet |
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Microbiological Incubator Advanced 100L Dual Convection |
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Blood culture diagnostics: a Nordic multicenter survey comparison of practices in clinical microbiology laboratories
Objectives: Accurate and rapid microbiological diagnostics are crucial to tailor treatment and improve outcomes in patients with severe infections. This study aimed to assess blood culture diagnostics in the Nordic countries and compare with a previous survey conducted in Sweden in 2013.
Methods: An online questionnaire was designed and distributed to the Nordic clinical microbiology laboratories (CMLs) (n=76) in January 2018.
Results: The response rate was 64% (49/76). Around-the-clock incubation of blood cultures (BCs) was supported in 82% (40/49) of the CMLs, although in six of these, access to the incubators around-the-clock was not given to all of the cabinets in the catchment area and 41% (20/49) of the sites did not assist with satellite incubators. Almost half (49% (24/49)) of the CMLs offered opening hours for ≥10 h during weekdays, more commonly in CMLs with an annual output ≥30,000 BC. Still, positive BCs were left unprocessed for 60-70% of the day, due to restrictive opening hours. Treatment advice was given by 23% (11/48) of CMLs in >75% of the phone contacts. Rapid analyses (species identification and susceptibility testing with short incubation) performed on aliquots from positive cultures, were implemented in 18% (9/49) of CMLs. Compared to 2013, species identification from subcultured colonies (<6h) had become more common.
Conclusions: CMLs have taken action to improve aspects of BC diagnostics implementing satellite incubators, rapid species identification and susceptibility testing. However, the limited opening hours and availability of clinical microbiologists are confining the advantages of these changes.