Clinical impact of rapid antimicrobial susceptibility testing in patients with bacteremia due to gram-negative bacilli

The introduction of rapid AST techniques such as Vitek® Reveal™ has allowed a shorter turnaround time for reports on AST than when using normal AST techniques. This allows most AST results to be available earlier in the Laboratory Information System, allowing physicians to initiate more quickly in establishing correct treatment. Finally, these actions have resulted in reduced mortality due to faster clinical decision-making in these critically ill patients.