Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Public Health

Advisor

Hadi Danawi

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is a health threat affecting millions of Americans. Microorganisms develop resistance to antibiotics, rendering them useless for treating infections. The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess the associations between sample processing time and antibiotic resistance and is based on the health belief model. A retrospective specimen tracking activity of data from November 2019 to November 2020 was obtained by random sampling of 246 bacterial cultures. One hundred ninety-six (80%) samples were processed on time, and 50 (20%) were delayed; 167 (68%) samples were determined to have the presence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and 79 (32%) with no resistance to antibiotics. The data analysis plan for the study on lab practices and antimicrobial resistance included binary and multiple logistic regression. The time for culture set-up was found to have a statistically significant association with AMR. There was a 56% decreased odds of reporting AMR on samples set-up within 30 mins compared to more than 30 mins, OR = 0.44, 95% CI = [0.44, 0.80], p = 0.007. The findings were preserved even after adjusting for other times associated with the overall order of processing samples, adjusted OR = 0.46, 95% CI = [0.25, 0.85], p = 0.012. There was a non-significant 30% increased odds of reporting AMR on the time for the final reporting of results. The positive social change implication of the study is that laboratory leaders would design a better laboratory process for setting up cultures within 30 minutes and consequently to report final culture results on time, to prevent unnecessary antibiotic prescribing, reducing patient’s hospital stay and the financial burden from treatment and hospitalization.

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