Identification of Staphylococci by Polymerase Chain Reaction Directly from a Positive Blood Culture and Effect on Patient Care.

Background: As one of the most common bloodstream infections worldwide, bacteremia places a major burden on health care. Implementation of a rapid, genetic-based diagnostic test may have important implications in the clinical management of patients with bacteremia.

Objectives: The primary objective was to assess concordance between testing based on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the current gold standard, culture and sensitivity testing; the secondary objective was to assess the impact of this technology on patient care.