Utilization and impact of a rapid Candida panel on antifungal stewardship program within a large community Hospital

Abstract Background The T2 Candida Panel (T2CP) bodes high sensitivity and specificity to detect candidemia, enabling providers to make quick therapy decisions and possibly decrease mortality. However, utilization in practice and clinical application remains to be evaluated. Objectives To evaluate the overall provider-utilization of the T2CP at a large community hospital. Methods This single center, retrospective, observational study compared antifungal management in all patients with positive or negative T2CP. Additional endpoints included patient-specific variables influencing antifungal management decisions. Results 628 T2CP results were evaluated. Antifungal optimization occurred in 54% of patients who had antifungal orders at the time of T2CP test. Antifungal therapy was avoided in 60.4% of negative cases. Patients with negative T2CP had significantly fewer days of therapy compared to positive tests. Conclusions Although the T2CP led to fewer days of antifungal therapy with negative tests, many opportunities for improvement in antifungal stewardship were identified, specifically, with negative tests.