Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola is seeing positive results from its use of sophisticated laboratory tests and a screening program that promises to save lives by rapidly detecting potentially deadly infections.

“These advances in laboratory technology have dramatically reduced the amount of time needed to detect infection and keep it from spreading,” said Dr. Michael Brown, vice president of medical affairs at Sacred Heart Hospital. “Our ability to diagnose antibiotic-resistant bacteria in less than an hour increases our doctors’ ability to protect patients from dangerous infections. We are now able to make more-informed decisions and move quickly to start the best course of treatment.”

Starting last year, the hospital’s faster lab detection techniques have been used to combat a group of “superbugs” or bacteria that are resistant to a number of commonly used antibiotics. The infections have gained much media attention, with greatest focus being on the increasing numbers of drug-resistant staph infections called MRSA (methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus). MRSA can cause infections of surgical incisions, the urinary tract, the bloodstream and the lungs, leading to extended hospital stays. (Learn more Staph and MRSA).

Staph infections, including MRSA, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities (such as nursing homes and dialysis centers) who have weakened immune systems.

In the past few years, MRSA infections have become a national health concern that claims lives and adds millions of dollars to healthcare costs each year.  Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that approximately 126,000 people are hospitalized with MRSA infections each year, and about 19,000 die.   The average cost for treating a serious MRSA infection is $35,367.00.

Sacred Heart is using one of the cutting edge tests to screen all patients in its Intensive Care Unit and all babies admitted to its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Using a simple nasal swab taken from patients, the hospital conducts the test for drug-resistant bacteria and can identify MRSA carriers in less than one hour.

Most persons who carry the MRSA organism on their body have no symptoms, but MRSA can cause boils, skin infections and can become deadly if they spread beyond their original location. By quickly identifying patients who are colonized (carriers but not infected), the hospital can treat those patients and help to prevent the development of infections among its sickest patients.

Sacred Heart is the only hospital in the Pensacola area that has the equipment and trained laboratory professionals to conduct the more rapid tests.

As a result of the testing program as well as an intensive effort to promote frequent hand washing by physicians, staff and visitors, Sacred Heart has been able to significantly reduce the number of MRSA infections that patients acquire after admission to the hospital. The hospital estimates that its continuing efforts saved more than $900,000 in costs for the hospital and its patients in 2008.

“By using the GeneXpert™ system, we can reduce hospital acquired infection rates and uphold the highest standards of patient safety,” said Donna Mayne, manager for the hospital’s microbiology and molecular lab.

The system utilizes PCR (polymerase chain reactions) technology for automated genetic analysis – the same technology used to analyze DNA in forensic testing and crime scene investigations.

Similarly, the hospital is using the technology to quickly detect the cause of a serious and potentially fatal condition called sepsis, which results from an infection that spreads into the bloodstream.  The rapid test allows doctors to identify if the germ causing the infection is Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA, and then to intervene more rapidly with more effective targeted treatments, thus improving patient outcomes.

“I’ve been working in microbiology diagnostics for 22 years, and this is the most significant thing we’ve done to make a difference in patient care,” said Mayne. “If you are sick, we’re going to be able to help you faster. We feel like we’re saving lives.”

Sepsis is a serious condition characterized by bloodstream infection (Learn more about Sepsis). The illness can result from different types of bacteria, each of which requires a different treatment.  Traditionally, when doctors suspected sepsis was developing, they took a blood sample that was sent to a lab for a slow diagnostic process that required the lab to grow a blood culture.  Using that method used in most hospitals, the lab needs 18-24 hours to get a preliminary result on the presence of infection, and another 24 hours to definitively identify the germ causing the infection.  However, many patients can develop complications long before the results are available, forcing doctors to begin treatments that may have been less effective or even unnecessary.

Now Sacred Heart is using the leading molecular technology to identify sepsis that is caused to Staph or MRSA within an hour.  Mayne said the equipment can isolate and identify the DNA of bacteria in a tiny sample of blood. Each test cost about $50, but that costs is small compared to the many thousands of dollars that can be spent on a single patient who develops life-threatening infections.