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Temple University Hospital
Originally Published: Modern Resident April/May 2016
Patients with bacteremia have a mortality between 30 and 50%, thus obtaining culture data on these sick patients is critical.[1] On the other hand, in the immunocompetent, non-septic patient, blood culture data rarely changes management, has a low yield, with a high rate of contamination and increases cost. False positive blood cultures increase length of stay by four to five days.[2] In order to provide high quality, cost-effective care, emergency physicians need to know which patients benefit from blood cultures being collected.
Blood Cultures in Cellulitis, Pyelonephritis and Pneumonia
The yield of blood cultures in patients with cellulitis is only two percent.[3,4] Meanwhile, the rates of contamination are equal to the rate of true positives and results rarely change antibiotic choice.[3,4] This is true for complicated and uncomplicated cellulitis, ICU patients excluded.
