Diagnostic stewardship perceptions and practices among microbiology laboratories: a national survey from the American Society for Microbiology

ABSTRACT Diagnostic stewardship (DxS) is a key activity for providing effective and efficient testing strategies for patient care. Complex test menus and result interpretation, high costs, limited reimbursements, and other factors necessitate DxS practices in clinical microbiology. We conducted a national survey of clinical microbiologists on their perceptions and practice of DxS in infectious diseases (ID) diagnostics. The 119 respondents (83 clinical directors, 33 operational leaders, and three trainees) indicated that DxS was practiced at their institution “some” (50.4%) or “most” (23.5%) of the time. Most respondents (>95%) had infection prevention and control and antimicrobial stewardship committees at their institutions. Academic medical center laboratories (AMCs) more often reported having microbiology consultation service, DxS/laboratory utilization committee, or official laboratory formulary than community hospital laboratories ( P ≤ 0.001). Respondents identified ID providers (79.0%) and clinical laboratory directors (74.8%) as the most common