Clinical impact of implementation of rapid diagnostic testing of blood cultures with Staphylococcus aureus on patient outcomes

Anndee S. Gritte, Kathleen M. Morneau, Chris Frei, Jose A. Cadena-Zuluaga, Elizabeth A. Walter, Teri L. Hopkins

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Rapid diagnostic testing in microbiology labs shortens the time to identification of bacteria in blood cultures. Cepheid® GeneXpert® MRSA/SA PCR can be used to distinguish MRSA and MSSA from non-Staphylococcus aureus organisms in blood cultures. This study aims to determine if implementation of MRSA/SA PCR for blood culture pathogen identification, plus daily antimicrobial stewardship intervention, can reduce time to appropriate therapy, vancomycin duration, 30 day mortality, and 90 day recurrence in veterans. A total of 113 patients in the pre-implementation cohort and 73 patients in the post-implementation cohort were evaluated. Time to appropriate therapy was decreased from 49.8 (pre-implementation) to 20.6 (post-implementation) hours. There was a numerically shorter median duration of vancomycin therapy in the post-implementation group. There was no difference in 30 day mortality or 90 day recurrence between groups. Use of MRSA/SA PCR can improve antimicrobial use when combined with once-daily antimicrobial stewardship review.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number115474
JournalDiagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease
Volume101
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2021
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bacteremia
  • Blood culture
  • Bloodstream infection
  • Cepheid®
  • Rapid Diagnostic Testing (RDT)
  • Staphylococcus aureus

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Infectious Diseases

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