Cepheid

Editorial Team

2m Read

November 20, 2024

ANTIMICROBIAL STEWARDSHIP

Impact Story

Decentralized Testing for the Surveillance of Hospital-Acquired Infections

Don Gnocchi, a rehabilitation hospital in Florence, Italy has partnered with the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi hospital to set up an infection prevention and control model. To lead their efforts, the Don Gnocchi Foundation placed a Cepheid GeneXpert^® system on-site for carbapenemase-producing enterobacterales (CPE) screening. The results are then validated in real-time and remotely by microbiologists from the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Careggi. This model is improving patient management, allowing for better infection prevention and control, and overall is reducing costs for the Don Gnocchi Foundation.

European surveillance data show that Italy ranks second in Europe for the prevalence of carbapenem resistance; the most common pathogen is Klebsiella pneumoniae, which significantly impacts healthcare facilities. In rehabilitation hospitals, patients share areas, and patients who are carrying germs potentially transmit these to other patients. Thus, special arrangements by both caregivers and physicians are required.

To enable fast CPE screening directly in the rehabilitation hospital for fast infection prevention and control measurements.

The Don Gnocchi Foundation set up a Cepheid^® GeneXpert system to perform screening upon admission. Test results are validated remotely by microbiologists at the Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi hospital.

The Xpert^® Carba-R test provides results in 50 minutes, which significantly reduced the turnaround time from previously 2-3 days. This impacts the facility's organization as the sooner clinicians have the results, the sooner they can remove isolation measurements for negative tested individuals or initiate treatment. This proactive surveillance program allows for better control of the spread of infections, a decrease in invasive infections, and consequently economic savings for the rehabilitation hospital.