Impact of Rapid Susceptibility Testing System on the Management of Gram-Negative Bacteremia in a Network of Community Hospitals.

BACKGROUND

Rapid initiation of optimal antimicrobial therapy is crucial for the management of Gram-negative (GN) bacteremia. We aimed to evaluate the impact of Accelerate PhenoTM (AxDx) system on change in therapy and length of stay among patients with GN bacteremia.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult patients hospitalized who had at least 1 blood culture with presence of Enterobacterales. We compared clinical outcomes among patients who had their blood cultures processed through standard methods alone vs AxDx.

RESULTS

We identified 255 bacteremia episodes among 243 unique patients. In the AxDx group, 31.1% of patients had deescalation of antibiotics within 48 h from blood culture collection compared to 20.0% of patients in the control group (P = 0.09). We found no impact of AxDx on the odds of deescalation at 48 h from blood culture collection [odds ratio (OR) 1.80 (95% CI 0.91-3.56), P = 0.09] or Gram stain report [OR 1.61 (95% CI 0.86-3.01), P = 0.14]. Escalation in therapy at 48 h from blood culture collection occurred in 16.8% and 16.9% of patients in the AxDx and control groups, respectively (P = 0.99). There was no impact on the odds of escalation at 48 h from blood culture collection [OR 0.99 (95% CI 0.47-2.11), P = 0.99] or Gram stain report [OR 1.26 (95% CI 0.57-2.80), P = 0.57]. No differences were seen in length of stay and mortality between the 2 groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The impact of rapid identification and susceptibility technologies may differ according to the setting in which they are implemented.