Effects of Rapid Detection of Bloodstream Infections on Length of Hospitalization and Hospital Charges

Abstract

Current automated continuous-monitoring blood culture systems afford more rapid detection of bacteremia and fungemia than is possible with non-instrument-based manual methods. Use of these systems has not been studied objectively with respect to impact on patient outcomes, including hospital charges and length of hospitalization. We conducted a prospective, two-center study in which the time from the obtainment of the initial positive blood culture until the Gram stain was called was evaluated for 917 cases of bloodstream infection. Factors showing univariate associations with a shorter time to notification included higher body temperature and respiratory rate and higher percentage of immature neutrophils. Multiple linear regression models determined that the primary predictors of both increased microbiology laboratory and total hospital charges for patients with bloodstream infection were nonmicrobiologic and included length of stay and host factors such as the admitting service and underlying illness score. Significant microbiologic predictors of increased charges included the number of blood cultures obtained, nosocomial acquisition, and polymicrobial bloodstream infections. Accelerated failure time regression analysis demonstrated that microbiologic factors, including time until notification, organism group, and nosocomial acquisition, were independently associated with length of hospitalization after bacteremia, as were the factors of admitting service, gender, and age. Our data suggest that an increased time to notification of bloodstream infection is independently associated with increased length of stay. We conclude that the time to notification is an obvious target for efforts to shorten length of stay. The newest generation of automated continuous-monitoring blood culture systems, which shorten the time required to obtain a positive result, should impact length of hospitalization.Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are now ranked as the 10th leading cause of death in the United States, with a recent increase in age-adjusted death rates (19). BSIs also have been associated with increased rates of hospitalization (2, 18), increased length of stay (23,25), and increased hospital costs (1,7,21). The earliest possible identification of BSI allows for prompt optimization of antimicrobial therapy and diminished need for additional diagnostic studies, which in turn may serve to decrease both length of stay and cost.Current automated continuous-monitoring blood culture systems afford more rapid detection of bacteremia and fungemia than is possible with non-instrument-based manual methods (5,13,14,24,27). Detection with continuous-monitoring systems has been estimated to be 1 to 1.5 days sooner than with instrumented blood culture systems that do not employ continuous monitoring (17). While such a decrease in detection time may seem intuitively important, use of these systems has not been studied objectively with respect to impact on patient outcomes, including hospital charges and length of hospitalization. Additiona...

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The Utility of Rapid Microbiological and Molecular Techniques in Optimizing Antimicrobial Therapy

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