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Latest available findings on quality of and access to healthcare
Up to half of all positive blood cultures may represent blood culture contaminants rather than true pathogens. Blood culture contamination can result in adverse effects, including misdiagnosis, inappropriate antibiotic treatment, unnecessary testing, longer hospital stays, increased hospital costs, and delays in proper treatment.
Blood Culture Stewardship aims to improve bacteremia detection, reduce inappropriate antibiotic use, and optimize diagnostic testing.
After reviewing the content of this presentation, viewers will be able to:
Documents:
One Pager: Strategies to Prevent Blood Culture Contamination (BCC) One-Pager (DOCX, 768 KB)
Provides a brief summary outlining key strategies to prevent blood culture contamination in clinical settings.
Tool: Blood Culture Decision Support Tool (DOCX, 1.7 MB)
This support tool provides a decision-making algorithm for optimal use of blood cultures, with appropriate clinical indications for initial and followup blood cultures in non-neutropenic populations. This algorithm is not a substitute for clinical judgment.
CDC: Preventing Adult Blood Culture Contamination: A Quality Tool for Clinical Laboratory Professionals
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Division of Laboratory Systems provides procedural recommendations to minimize blood culture contamination. You may consider adapting this for your program.
Internet Citation: Blood Culture Practices and Stewardship. Content last reviewed February 2026. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
https://www.ahrq.gov/hai/tools/mrsa-prevention/toolkit/blood-culture.html
