AdvanDx has announced that OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Illinois has implemented the company’s PNA FISH tests to identify bloodstream pathogens 1 to 3 days earlier than conventional methods to help their physicians, pharmacists and nurses improve care and outcomes for patients with bloodstream infections. Rapid and accurate identification of the causative pathogen is crucial to ensuring appropriate antibiotic therapy and improving patient outcomes. Conventional diagnostic methods can take 48 hours or longer forcing physicians to treat patients empirically with broad-spectrum antibiotics that may prove to be ineffective and can lead to long-term resistance. AdvanDx’s PNA FISH tests use the bacterial pathogens’ own genetic material to provide identification results 1 to 3 days sooner than conventional methods. Clinical trials conducted at hospitals in the US have shown that implementing PNA FISH and delivering fast results to clinicians directed earlier, effective antibiotic therapy, reduced mortality rates and improved hospital operational efficiency by reducing hospital length of stay, bed utilization, and pharmacy and lab costs related to unnecessary antibiotic use. OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center is the first hospital in northern Illinois to implement the rapid PNA FISH tests and enable their clinicians to use the fast, therapy-directing diagnostic results to improve care and outcomes for their patients. “We are very excited to provide the latest diagnostic tool to help our clinicians identify these serious infections in our critically ill patients,” said Dr. Gary Rifkin, Infectious Diseases Consultant and Physician Epidemiologist at OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center. “The fast results from the laboratory will enable our clinicians to know which pathogens they are dealing with much earlier, will help them prescribe the most appropriate antibiotic, and allow us to deliver the best care for our patients,” Dr. Rifkin added.