The Clinical Microbiology department at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI) has upgraded its BacT/Alert system with BioMerieux's Observa data-management software.
The department handles up to 150 blood-culture bottles a day.
'Observa has a lot more search facilities than our previous software, which has proved extremely useful,' said Dawn Williams of BMS2.
'We currently send out a provisional report of no growth at 48hrs and the Neonatal Unit wondered if this could be reduced to 36hrs to free up bed time,' she said.
The department used Observa's search facility to investigate this to see if all true positives flagged within 36hrs.
It has also used it to study contamination rates and identify those areas at greatest risk.
'At the moment a significant number of our positive cultures are Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CNS), mainly due to contamination, and, by identifying the wards at risk, we will be able to carry out specific training to reduce the problem,' said Williams.
'This will significantly decrease the amount of unnecessary work performed by the laboratory, reducing costs in terms of materials and staff time,' she added.
Observa can run searches based on consultant, age, or any other patient demographic in the department's host computer system.
