Introduction. The use of automated systems in identification and susceptibility tests can improve antimicrobial therapy, and positively impact clinical outcomes with a decrease in antimicrobial resistance, hospitalization time, costs, and mortality.
Aim. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical impact of an automated method for identification and susceptibility testing of microbial isolates.
Methodology. This was a retrospective cross-sectional study aimed to analyse the results before and after the implementation period of a VITEK 2 system in a Brazilian university hospital. Based on data from medical records, patients with a positive culture of clinical samples from January to July 2017 (conventional method) and from August to December 2017 (automated method) were included in this study. Demographic data, hospitalization time, time interval between culture collection and results, culture results and site, susceptibility profile, minimum inhibitory concentration, and outcome data were evaluated. Chi-square and Fischer’s tests were used in the analysis.
Results. Of the total samples, 836 were considered valid by the inclusion criteria, with 219 patients before VITEK 2 system implementation group and 545 in the post-implementation group. The comparison between the two periods showed a reduction of 25 % of the time to culture reports, a decrease of 33.5 to 17.0 days of hospitalization, and a reduction in mortality from 44.3–31.0 %, respectively.
Conclusion. The VITEK 2 system provided early access to appropriate antimicrobial therapy for patients and effected a positive clinical impact with a reduction in mortality and hospitalization time.
BACKGROUNDFibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic disease that results in an important compromise in quality of life, with no single effective treatment. Therefore, in addition to medications, it demands multidisciplinary care that includes understanding the disease and activities aimed at physical and psychological well-being. In this way, the aim of the present study was to evaluate a group multidisciplinary intervention for self-management of chronic pain in patients with FM in a public health secondary attention service.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.