An evaluation of blood cultures in the emergency centre

The aim of this study is to determine whether routine blood cultures performed in a secondary level hospital Emergency Centre affect the choice of antibiotic used in treating patients with bacterial infections. A secondary aim is to determine if staff in the EC are aware of correct procedures for drawing blood cultures, and whether their practice reflects this. This will be a retrospective analysis of all blood cultures done in GF Jooste hospital over a 12 month period (1 April 2008 - 31 March 2009). The EC sees approximately 45 000 patients per year, and approximately 300 blood cultures are performed every month. Inclusion criteria: Age 18 or greater; Blood culture performed by EC staff in EC; Recorded blood culture result by laboratory; Patient in hospital when results received. The data will be analysed and presented as simple descriptive statistics.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Division of Emergency Medicine

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Fleming, Julian

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10436

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10436