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

• Published in: Journal of continuing education topics & issues Vol. 20; no. 2; pp. 34 - 39
• Main Authors: DeBurger, Barbara A, Mortensen, Joel E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• 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
• ISSN: 1522-8606

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.