Capacity and Utilization of Blood Culture in Two Referral Hospitals in Indonesia and Thailand.

Nittaya Teerawattanasook,David A B Dance,Prapit Teparrukkul,Vanaporn Wuthiekanun,Direk Limmathurotsakul,Mansyur Arif,Patricia M Tauran

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.17-0193

Abstract

.It is generally recommended that sepsis patients should have at least two blood cultures obtained before antimicrobial therapy. From 1995 to 2015, the number of blood cultures taken each year in a 1,100-bed public referral hospital in Ubon Ratchathani northeast Thailand rose from 5,235 to 56,719, whereas the number received in an 840-bed referral public hospital in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2015 was 2,779. The proportion of patients sampled for blood cultures out of all inpatients in South Sulawesi in 2015 (9%; 2,779/30,593) was lower than that in Ubon Ratchathani in 2003 (13%; 8,707/66,515), at a time when health expenditure per capita in the two countries was comparable. Under-use of bacterial cultures may lead to an underestimate and underreporting of the incidence of antimicrobial-resistant infections. Raising capacity and utilization of clinical microbiology laboratories in developing countries, at least at sentinel hospitals, to monitor the antimicrobial resistance situation should be prioritized.

Highlights

Clinical microbiology laboratories are considered important, there is limited information on their capacity and use in public hospitals in developing countries.[7]
We present the blood culture numbers received by a hospital microbiology laboratory in northeast Thailand, from 1995 to 2015, and compare it with the numbers received by the laboratory in a hospital in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2015
In 2011 and 2015, another two community hospitals in the province (60- and 90-bed capacities) established clinical microbiological laboratories, these tested a limited number of blood culture samples per year

Summary

Introduction

Clinical microbiology laboratories are considered important, there is limited information on their capacity and use in public hospitals in developing countries.[7]. Clinical microbiology laboratories are considered important, there is limited information on their capacity and use in public hospitals in developing countries.[7] Here, we present the blood culture numbers received by a hospital microbiology laboratory in northeast Thailand, from 1995 to 2015, and compare it with the numbers received by the laboratory in a hospital in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, in 2015.

Results

Conclusion