Impact of QuickFISH in addition to antimicrobial stewardship on vancomycin use and resource utilization in cancer patients with coagulase-negative staphylococcal blood cultures

Abstract Objective To evaluate the impact of rapidly identifying coagulase-negative staphylococci (CoNS) from positive blood cultures combined with an established antimicrobial stewardship (AS) programme at a tertiary cancer centre. Methods We compared cancer patients ≥18 years old who between 01/1/13 and 12/31/13 had one or more positive CoNS blood culture(s) identified by Staphylococcus Quick FISH® (a peptide nucleic acid fluorescence in situ hybridization assay) with cancer patients ≥18 years old who had CoNS identified by standard microbiological techniques between 01/01/11 and 12/31/11 (baseline). Positive blood culture results were reported to the clinician by microbiology staff; restricted antibiotics (e.g., vancomycin) required approval by the AS team. Results There were 196 baseline and 103 Quick FISH patients. Faster median time to organism identification (33 (IQR 27–46) versus 49 (IQR 39–63) hours, p  Quick FISH group. Quick FISH implementation was predictive of a lower likelihood of antibiotic therapy prescription (OR 0.35, 95%CI 0.20–0.62, p  Conclusions Quick FISH implementation plus AS support leads to greater avoidance of vancomycin therapy and improved resource utilization in cancer patients with CoNS blood cultures.