Standardised procedures can improve the validity of susceptibility testing of uropathogenic bacteria in general practice.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate whether the validity of susceptibility testing in general practice would improve when preceded by an intervention.


METHODS
Instruction in standardised susceptibility testing procedures given by laboratory instructors.


METHODS
Urine specimens containing monocultures of typical uropathogenic bacteria were sent to 23 general practices before and after the intervention. Practices performed susceptibility testing by the Sensicult and the Iso-Res agar methods and the validity of the results before and after the intervention was compared. Results from susceptibility testing at the bacteriological laboratory, Odense University Hospital, were used as gold standard.


RESULTS
The median frequency of correct results increased from 82% to 98% for susceptibility testing based on Sensicult (p = 0.001) and from 90% to 96% based on Iso-Res agar (p = 0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
The validity of susceptibility testing in general practice improves when preceded by instruction in standardised procedures.
Bjerrum
L
L
Research Unit of General Practice, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark. l-bjerrum@health.sdu.dk
Grinsted
P
P
Petersen
P H
PH
Søgaard
P
P
D003718:Denmark; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D004521:Educational Measurement; D005194:Family Practice / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests; D012015:Reference Standards; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014552:Urinary Tract Infections / Q000382:microbiology*