Time Is of the Essence: Achieving Prompt and Effective Antimicrobial Therapy of Bloodstream Infection With Advanced Hospital Information Systems
Open accessAbstract
The early administration of appropriate antibiotic therapy is crucial for the survival of patients with bacteremia. Current research focuses on improving analytical times through technology, whereas there have been very few efforts to improve postanalytical times even though they represent 40% of the time between blood taking and appropriate treatment administration. One of the clues is the efficiency and appropriateness of the result communication system. Here, we review all delays in the entire process with the aim of improving time to appropriate treatment administration. We discuss causes for long times to adjust treatment once microbiological results are released. We argue that the pervasive health information system in this organization serves as both a bottleneck and a rigid framework. Finally, we explore how next-generation hospital information systems should be designed to effectively assist the doctors in treating patients with bacteremia.
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In the Morquin et al. study, result delivery accounted for almost 40% of the time.
“while result delivery accounted for almost 40% of the time”
From Lab efficiency and improvements in the management of bloodstream infections: a before and after study (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
In “Time in the Overall Process” (p. 1437), the paper says the time after result production and delivery accounted for close to 40% of the overall time. It does not say result delivery itself took that share; the section describes a substantial delay between viewing results and changing treatment. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredIn the Morquin et al. study, the median time to appropriate treatment administration was ~53.5 h (IQR, 28.9; 98.0).
“The Morquin, et al.. study showed that the median time to appropriate treatment administration was with ~ 53.5 h (IQR, 28.9; 98.0)”
From Lab efficiency and improvements in the management of bloodstream infections: a before and after study (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
In the Morquin et al. study, only 50% of that time was dedicated to the actual testing.
“and that only 50% of that time was dedicated to the actual testing”
From Lab efficiency and improvements in the management of bloodstream infections: a before and after study (2025) · cites this paper as [19]
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Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Paluch, M., Ettahar, N., Lagraulet, B., Cattoen, C., Rethore, E., Dubrulle, A., Abad, L., Canis, F., Wayenberg, L., Lambiotte, F., et al. (2025) · European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1007/s10096-025-05200-x · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Morquin, D., Lejeune, J., Agostini, C., Godreuil, S., Reynes, J., Le Moing, V., & Lamy, B.
- Affiliations
- Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Montpellier (FR)
- Université de Montpellier (FR)
- Département des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales CHU, CHU Montpellier, Université Montpellier , Montpellier , France
- Inserm (FR)
- Corresponding author
- Lamy, Brigitte
- Venue
- Clinical Infectious Diseases
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2023-12-06
- Volume
- 78
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 1434-1442
- ISSN
- 1058-4838 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-6591
- OpenAlex
- W4389452969
- Cited by
- 9
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 0.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Clinical Infectious Diseases (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- HAL (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- University hospital of Montpellier, France
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Electronic Health Records Systems
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Clinical Biochemistry › Bacterial Identification and Susceptibility Testing
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology › Antibiotic Use and Resistance
- Keywords
- bacteremia, bloodstream infection, antimicrobial therapy, time to treatment, hospital information systems, communication of results, clinical decision support, clinical workflow
- MeSH terms
- Anti-Bacterial Agents, Hospital Information Systems, Humans, Time Factors, Bacteremia
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