Page 8 of 8: Keep up the great work conserving blood culture bottles

There is an ongoing global supply shortage of blood culture bottles that will to continue through the fall (see Critical Practice and Safety Alert for physicians). By adhering to evidence-based practices, we have reduced our usage of blood culture bottles by ~20%. Keep up the great work and continue to follow best practices for blood culture collection.

These are the key actions you can take:

Does your non-neutropenic adult patient have:

• Isolated fever and/or leukocytosis who do not have severe sepsis (e.g. hypotension) or suspected endocarditis?
• Nonsevere cellulitis?
• Simple cystitis or prostatitis?
• non-severe pneumonia?
• Post op fever within 48 hrs of surgery?
• If YES to any of the above, please RECONSIDER ordering blood cultures.