Effect evaluation of optimizing blood culture testing process / 中华检验医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To evaluate whether the time to positive (TTP), handling time after positive alarm and turnaround time (TAT) of bacteremia blood culture can be shortened by optimizing blood culture workflow.Methods:This study was conducted retrospectively. Positive blood culture samples collected from Peking University People′s Hospital from January 1, 2014 to June 30, 2021 were analyzed in stages. In the traditional process stage of this study (2014), 502 bottles of positive blood culture samples were included in the analysis. In the first stage of process optimization (2016), the working time of staff was increased to 2200, and 976 positive blood culture specimens were included in the analysis. In the second stage of process optimization (2018), the rapid identification process of MALDI-TOF MS was added, and a total of 1 029 bottles of positive blood culture samples were included. In the third stage of process optimization (2020) with the introduction of the new VIRTUO BACT/ALERT system. The difference of TTP, handling time after positive alarm and TAT of whole process in different stages of traditional process and process optimization were compared. All data were statistically significant when P<0.05 using rank-sum test. Results:In the traditional process stage (2014), the median quartile time of handling time after positive alarm was 55.70 (47.35, 68.45) h. In the first stage of process optimization (2016), the median quartile time of handling time after positive alarm was 47.25 (33.88, 59.96) h, and the handling time after positive alarm in the first stage of process optimization was significantly shorter than that in the traditional process stage ( Z=?10.734, P<0.001). In the second stage of process optimization (2018), the median quartile time for handling time after positive alarm was 47.18(36.41, 59.40) h, and 12.18% of the preliminary identification results of Gram-negative bacilli before 1700 could be reported to the clinic before audit. In the third stage of process optimization (2020), the median quartile of TTP and TAT were 39.56 (21.52, 62.65) h and 78.16(64.68, 99.72) h respectively in the original BACT/ALERT 3D system. The new VIRTUO BACT/ALERT system had a median quartile of 37.03(21.08, 58.22) h for TTP and 73.41(62.88, 89.48) h for TAT. VIRTUO BACT/ALERT 3D had a significantly shorter TTP than BACT/ALERT 3D ( Z=?2.273, P=0.023), the TAT of VIRTUO BACT/ALERT system was significantly shorter than that of BACT/ALERT 3D system ( Z=?4.040, P<0.001). Conclusion:By improving the blood culture process of microbiology laboratory in many aspects and measures, the processing time of blood culture in each stage can be shortened and clinical benefits can be obtained.