Effectiveness of Bacterial Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing in a Clinical Microbiology Laboratory Working Around the Clock: Table 1

Abstract

To the Editor Clinical diagnostic laboratories observed a daytime working schedule extending from mornings till late evenings. Their bacterial culture and susceptibility reports would not be available before 2 days. The pause obstructs prescription of appropriate antibiotics to patients with bacterial infections. Efforts to reduce the turnaround time have been through more rapid microbiologic identification, with an automated identification system such as the VITEK 2 (bioMerieux, Durham, NC) or the API system. They are costly and beyond the resources of laboratories with fiscal limitations. Laboratory services have continued to be a neglected component of health systems. Their central role in public health, disease control and surveillance, and patient management is not recognized by governments.1 In developing countries, large numbers of laboratories in bigger cities are without a high level of diagnostic competence.2 Consequently, clinicians cannot prescribe the appropriate antimicrobials to their patients. Recently, a 1,600-bed teaching hospital in Angers, France, adopted a 24-hour operating schedule for bacterial identification and antimicrobial susceptibility …