PCR cycle threshold to assess a diagnostic stewardship intervention for C. difficile testing

Optimizing diagnostic testing for Clostridium difficile: The perceptions of physicians and nurses on when to order testing for C difficile.

Physicians and nurses at a single hospital were surveyed on which risk factors were most important in deciding to order Clostridium difficile diagnostic testing. Disagreement between physicians and nurses on the relative importance of several of the risk factors warrants further investigation.

The Impact of Diagnostic Stewardship on Clostridium difficile Infections

Rapid Diagnostic Testing in Antimicrobial Stewardship

As part of our series on current policy issues regarding antimicrobial stewardship and the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), this update focuses on diagnostic testing for infectious diseases and the role of rapid testing in antimicrobial stewardship. A second update on this topic will address priorities for the development and implementation of novel diagnostic testing in low-resource s...

Differences in outcome according to Clostridium difficile testing method: a prospective multicentre diagnostic validation study of C difficile infection

BACKGROUND Diagnosis of Clostridium difficile infection is controversial because of many laboratory methods, compounded by two reference methods. Cytotoxigenic culture detects toxigenic C difficile and gives a positive result more frequently (eg, because of colonisation, which means that individuals can have the bacterium but no free toxin) than does the cytotoxin assay, which detects preformed...

Clostridium difficile Laboratory Identification Event Reporting – A Need for Diagnostic Stewardship