Is it time for a culture change? Blood culture collection in the emergency department. (1st July 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Denny, Kerina J; Sweeny, Amy; Crilly, Julia; Maloney, Samuel; Keijzers, Gerben
• Is Part Of: Emergency medicine Australasia. Volume 30:Number 4(2018)
• Page Start: 575
• Page End: 577
• Publication Date: 2018-07-01
• Subjects: blood culture -- choosing wisely -- infection; Emergency medicine -- Periodicals; Emergency medicine -- Australasia -- Periodicals; 616.025
• DOI: 10.1111/1742-6723.13122
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-6731

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To describe how frequently blood cultures (BCs) are obtained in the ED and to describe the incidence of true‐ and false‐positive BC results. Methods: Retrospective descriptive study of all patients presenting to a tertiary‐level, mixed Australian ED over a 15 month period. Results: A total of 3617 (3.67%) patients had BCs collected. Around one (12.1%) in eight of these BCs were positive; nearly half (45.2%) of which were identified as a false positive. Conclusions: BCs are a common investigation in the ED with a high false‐positive rate. Strategies are required to reduce false positives, including reducing inappropriate collection and improving collection techniques.