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. 2007 Mar;24(3):213-4.
doi: 10.1136/emj.2006.039875.

Do peripheral blood cultures taken in the emergency department influence clinical management?

Neil Howie  1 , Jan F Gerstenmaier, Philip T Munro
Affiliations

Do peripheral blood cultures taken in the emergency department influence clinical management?

Neil Howie et al. Emerg Med J. 2007 Mar.

Abstract

Background: Blood cultures are routinely used to investigate suspected sepsis in the emergency department despite several studies demonstrating their limited influence on patient management.

Objectives: To quantify the use and clinical relevance of blood cultures obtained in the emergency department.

Methods: A retrospective study of blood cultures taken in the emergency department between 1 January 2003 and 31 December 2004. Microbiology results and patient records were reviewed to determine the influence of positive cultures on subsequent patient management.

Results: 2213 blood cultures were taken in the emergency department over the study period. 132 (6%) yielded a positive result. Three positive cultures cases had incomplete information. Of the remaining 129 positive cultures, 30 (1.4% of all cultures) were "true positives" and 4 (0.18%) influenced subsequent patient management.

Conclusions: Blood cultures taken in our emergency department rarely yield bacterial growth and over 2 years, only four seemed to directly influence patient management. Better guidelines are required for targeted use of blood cultures in the emergency department.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None.

Comment in

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