ABSTRACT
There is no precise information available on the entire workload of isolating a specific microorganism in a clinical microbiology laboratory, and the costs associated with it have not been specifically estimated. In this descriptive retrospective study conducted at the microbiology department of a general teaching hospital from January 2021 to December 2022, we assessed the workload associated with identifying Candida species in all types of clinical samples and patients. Costs were estimated from data obtained from the hospital's finance department and microbiology laboratory cost records. In 2 years, 1,008,231 samples were processed at our microbiology department, of which 8,775 had one or more Candida spp. isolates (9,683 total isolates). Overall, 5,151 samples with Candida spp. were identified from 2,383 inpatients. We isolated Candida spp. from 515.3 samples/100,000 population/year and from 92 samples/1,000 hospital admissions/year. By sample type, 90.8% were superficial, mainly mucosal. Only 9.1% Candida spp. were isolated from deep, usually sterile, samples, being mostly from ordinarily sterile fluids. Candida albicans was the main species (58.5%) identified, followed by C. parapsilosis complex, C. glabrata, C. tropicalis, and C. krusei. In admitted patients, the incidences of samples with Candida spp. isolates were 302.7 samples/100,000 population/year and 54 samples/1,000 admissions/year. The average cost of isolating and identifying Candida spp. was estimated at 25 per culture-positive sample. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to gage the workload and costs of Candida spp. isolation at a hospital microbiology department. These data can help assess the burden and significance of Candida isolation at other institutions and also help design measures for streamlining. IMPORTANCE: We believe that this work is of interest because at present, there is no really accurate information available on the total workload involved in isolating a specific microorganism in a clinical microbiology laboratory. The costs related to this have also not been described. We have described the unrestricted workload of Candida spp. in all types of samples for all types of species and patients. We believe that this information would be necessary to collect and share this information as well as to collect it in a standardized way to know the current situation of Candida spp. workload in all clinical microbiology laboratories.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: To quantify the workload and cost overload that the COVID-19 pandemic has meant for a Clinical Microbiology laboratory in a real-life scenario. METHODS: We compared the number of samples received, their distribution, the human resources, and the budget of a Microbiology laboratory in the COVID pandemic (March-December 2020) with the same months of the previous year. RESULTS: the total number of samples processed in the Clinical Microbiology laboratory in March to December 2020 increased 96.70% with respect to 2019 (from 246,060 to 483,993 samples), reflecting an increment of 127.50% when expressed as samples/1000 admissions (from 6057 to 13,780). The increase in workload was mainly at the expense of the virology (+2058%) and serology (+86%) areas. Despite additional personnel hiring, the samples processed per technician increased 12.5%. The extra cost attributed to Microbiology amounts to 6,616,511 euros (114.8%). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to provide quantitative figures about workload and cost increase caused by the COVID-19 in a Microbiology laboratory.