Third Bon Secours Hospital Selects Automated Microbial Detection System

The Bon Secours Hospital, Tralee, has become the third of Bon Secours Health System’s hospitals to select bioMérieux’s BacT/ALERT for blood culture in its microbiology laboratory. Suzanne Chute, Senior Medical Scientist, explained: “Our previous system only held 50 bottles, and as our sample numbers had increased – on average our microbiology laboratory handles 70 to 80 samples a day – we needed an instrument with greater capacity. We chose the BacT/ALERT because it can hold 120 bottles, and its small footprint was an added bonus. The transition to the BacT/ALERT went very smoothly. After an introductory session with bioMérieux we just ran the two systems in parallel for a time, gradually phasing out the old bottles.”

“The BacT/ALERT benefits our laboratory in many ways. The plastic bottle system is both safer and cheaper than glass bottles, and samples taken out of hours can be left on the bench overnight and run the next morning without compromising results. The system has an excellent in-built alarm system and the software generates high quality data.”

Suzanne concluded: “The BacT/ALERT is very easy to use, and has considerably reduced the user errors that result in repeat testing. Significantly, we have seen enhanced sensitivity, particularly for anaerobes. Our positivity rates have increased, and we can detect organisms that might have been a problem for us in the past.”