[Sepsis and blood culture management]

At Tenri Hospital in Nara prefecture of Japan, the blood culture system is managed by a medical technologist with a microbiology specialty, and the other medical technologists manage the blood culture system when the primary technologist who specializes in microbiology is not working in 24 hours. For positive cultures, the Gram staining morphology of the organism is reported direct by to the clinician by telephone within 24 hours after culture bottles are submitted to the laboratory. We, the medical technologist, discuss with the clinician the focus of infection, use of antibiotics, effects of antimicrobial therapy, and clinical background of the patient. In some cases, we examine the MICs of specific bacteria isolated from patients and calculate the pharmacokinetic (PK)/pharmacodynamic (PD) parameters(e.g., time above the MIC, area under the curve/MIC and peak concentration/MIC). We then recommend to the clinician the most suitable dosage regimen. For patients with a serious infection or renal failure requiring a special dosing regimen, we perform therapeutic-drug monitoring with various antimicrobial agents. Information for rapid diagnosis of bacteremia and suitable dosing regimens for antimicrobial agents should be provided to the clinician with the following considerations: (1)findings should be reported within 24 hours of receiving a specimen, (2)the report should include a therapeutic regimen that considers the MIC of the target bacteria, and (3)the MIC interpretive criteria that correspond to the dosage regimen should be adopted.