Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29961166›Full record

ArticleEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology2018

How small modifications in laboratory workflow of blood cultures can have a significant impact on time to results.

B Van den Poel, A Klak, S Desmet, J Verhaegen

Abstract read
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Article in European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Lab efficiency and improvements in the management of bloodstream infections: a before and after study.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2025
    Observational
  3. Laboratory and clinical impacts of an overnight laboratory service.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2021
    Article
  4. Performance and potential clinical impact of Alfred60European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2020
    Article
  5. Laboratory automation reduces time to report of positive blood cultures and improves management of patients with bloodstream infection.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2018
    Article
  6. Laboratory Automation in Clinical Microbiology.Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland) · 2018
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

B Van den PoelDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium. bea.vandenpoel@uzleuven.be.
A KlakDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
S DesmetDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
J VerhaegenDepartment of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Rapid identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing of micro-organisms causing bloodstream infections is crucial in the management of septic patients. In this study, we compared a period of twice-daily and a period of thrice-daily reading of subculture agar plates. In 2016, 10,644 positive blood cultures bottles (bioMérieux) from 2608 patients were analyzed at UZ Leuven. Identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing were performed by MALDI-TOF MS (Bruker Daltonics) and Vitek 2 (bioMérieux) respectively. In period 1 (January to June), subculture plates were read at 8:30 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. during the weekdays. In period 2 (August until December), reading was performed at 8:30 a.m., 2:00 p.m., and 5:00 p.m. Time to identification and time to AST results after positivity were compared. In period 1, median time to identification of all organisms was 22.8 h compared to 20.2 h in period 2 (p < 0.01). Moreover, micro-organisms were identified before 12 h in 9% of samples in period 2, a significant increase compared to 2% in period 1 (p < 0.01). In period 2, AST results were known within 36 h in 39% of samples, compared to 31% in period 1 (p < 0.01). Optimization of the reading frequency of subcultures of blood cultures significantly decreases time to results. Further optimization can be done by introducing lab automation. We will use the data of this study as a baseline to analyze the impact of introducing WASPLab (Copan Diagnostics) automation on time to results.

Indexed as

WorkflowAgarBacteriaBacteriological TechniquesBlood CultureHumansLaboratoriesMicrobial Sensitivity TestsReadingTime FactorsAgarAntimicrobial susceptibility testingBlood culturesLaboratory workflowRapid identificationReading frequency

Identifiers

PMID29961166

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.