One Laboratory's Experience with the Transition from Culture to Molecular Methods for the Detection of Methicillin-Susceptible Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

The introduction of molecular testing into clinical microbiology laboratories can be a major paradigm shift. Clinical microbiology laboratories have an opportunity to replace traditional methods with molecular methods that can have numerous advantages. However, educating and fulfilling the clinical...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of continuing education topics & issues Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 34 - 39
Main Authors DeBurger, Barbara A, Mortensen, Joel E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Rosemont American Medical Technologies 01.04.2018
Subjects
Algorithms
Antibiotics
Antimicrobial agents
Bacteria
Bone surgery
Communicable Diseases
Cost control
Deoxyribonucleic acid
Diagnostic Tests
Disease control
DNA
Epidemiology
Hospitals
Individualized Instruction
Infectious diseases
Laboratories
Land Settlement
Microbiology
Mortality
Nosocomial infections
Patients
Polymerase chain reaction
Quality Assurance
Quality Control
Staphylococcus infections
Testing laboratories
Thoracic surgery
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Summary:The introduction of molecular testing into clinical microbiology laboratories can be a major paradigm shift. Clinical microbiology laboratories have an opportunity to replace traditional methods with molecular methods that can have numerous advantages. However, educating and fulfilling the clinical needs of physicians while complying with administrative, operational, staffing, and financial constraints can be daunting both during and after the introduction of molecular methods. In hospital settings, rapid molecular methods can play major roles in identifying patients with healthcare-associated infections (HAI) such as Clostridium difficile infections (CDI), colonization by vancomycin-resistant enterococci and/or detection of methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA). Healthcare-associated infections cause significant morbidity and mortality in both hospital and community settings1 and have been reported to result in over 6.5 billion dollars in treatment costs and excess hospital stays2.
ISSN:1522-8606