Examination of urine culture is one of the most commonly performed microbiology tests accounting for a significant proportion of the microbiology workload. This is generally performed by a trained scientist which selects predominant organisms in the investigation of Urinary tract infections. As workload increases further demand for automation of plate reading will likely increase to relieve pressure.

This was a joint investigation into the reliability of automated urine culture workflow utilising the APAS Independence within a busy clinical NHS laboratory using a total of 1974 samples. A blinded head-to-head comparison of clinical urine culture sample processing was performed using the APAS Independence with Thermo Fisher Brilliance UTI Clarity media and Thermo Fisher CLED with Andrade's using plate-in-hand interpretation as the laboratory's reference method.

Alternative identification of significant E. coli colonies using automation has been demonstrated, with the potential for the APAS Independence & UTI Clarity to replace traditional methods for identification of E. coli in urine culture as a cost-effective alternative to the use of MALDI-ToF identification in urine culture analysis.

APAS Independence allows for the removal of negative urine cultures from the urine bench workflow, demonstrating high levels of agreement, with the potential to free up clinical laboratory staff to perform more complicated lab tasks.

Poster Presentation: NHS William Harvey Hospital, Kent

‍Conference: ECCMID 2022, Lisbon

‍Date: April 2022

‍Authors: Sloan, B., Dawson, M. and Arkley, R.

‍Citation: Sloan, B., Dawson, M. and Arkley, R. 2022. Artificial intelligence and diagnostic microbiology: comparison of APAS Independence with chromogenic UTI media Analysis Module and routine plate-in-hand with traditional CLED media at NHS William Harvey Hospital. ECCMID 2022. Lisbon.