Background: Accelerate Pheno system and BacT/ALERT VIRTUO may improve bacteremia management. This study evaluated the impact of both devices on outcomes in patients with sepsis and concurrent gram-negative bacteremia. Methods: This quasi-experimental study included a retrospective pre-implementation and a prospective post-implementation group. Patients ≥18 years old with gram-negative bacteremia were included. Patients with neutropenia, pregnancy, were transferred from an outside hospital with active bloodstream infection, or polymicrobial bacteremia were excluded. Blood culture incubation in the BacT/ALERT 3D and microdilution antimicrobial susceptibility testing from culture plate growth was used prior to implementation of BacT/ALERT VIRTUO and Accelerate Pheno. MALDI-TOF identification directly from blood culture was used pre- and post-implementation. Time to gram-stain, identification, susceptibility reporting, initiation of narrow spectrum gram-negative therapy at 72 hours, 30-day inpatient mortality, sepsis resolution, and hospital length of stay were evaluated. Results: 116 patients were included (63 pre-implementation, 53 post-implementation). Median time to gram-stain and susceptibility results were significantly shorter post-implementation (P < 0.001). The post-implementation group had an improved hazard for narrow spectrum gram-negative therapy at 72 hours (HR [95% CI] = 2.685 [1.348 – 5.349]), reduced hazard for 30-day inpatient mortality (aHR: 0.150 [0.026 – 0.846]) and improved sepsis resolution (77.8% vs. 92.5%, P = 0.030). Hospital length of stay was unchanged between groups. Conclusion: The implementation of BacT/Alert VIRTUO and the Accelerate Pheno system improved microbiology laboratory processes, antibiotic utilization processes and clinical outcomes. These data support the use of rapid diagnostics in sepsis with concurrent gram-negative bacteremia.

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