A scoping review of interventions to improve blood culture sampling practices in hospital acute care settings.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Blood cultures (BCs) are the gold standard investigation for patients with suspected severe infection and sepsis. Yet, BCs are not consistently obtained prior to antibiotic administration, and sampling practices remain suboptimal. Optimizing BC sampling has important benefits, including reducing inappropriate antibiotic use and improving antimicrobial stewardship. Despite advances in sepsis recognition and management, a significant scope remains to improve BC sampling practices. This scoping review aimed to identify evidence on interventions used to improve BC sampling in higher economically developed countries.

Methods

Database searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL, PubMed and BMJ Open Quality were conducted for studies published between January 2015 and January 2025. Incl

SUBMITTER: Abdi MAI 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12856658 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature