Collecting blood cultures prior to giving antibiotics allows clinicians to tailor their choice of medications. Initial broad-spectrum antibiotics can be changed to an appropriate spectrum drug.  Timely and appropriate antibiotics have been shown to decrease mortality in a variety of infectious conditions.

Compliance with this Sepsis Resuscitation Bundle element is defined as the percent of patients presenting with severe sepsis and/or septic shock who had blood cultures collected prior to broad-spectrum antibiotic administration.

Numerator: The number of patients who had blood cultures collected before broad-spectrum antibiotic administration following presentation with severe sepsis and/or septic shock

Denominator: The number of patients presenting with severe sepsis and/or septic shock

Increase blood culture collection prior to broad-spectrum antibiotic administration to 100 percent of cases.

Data may be collected concurrently — that is, once a patient is placed on the hospital’s severe sepsis protocol, data can be abstracted from the patient chart in real time — or retrospectively using a chart review, a method generally recommended for more experienced improvement teams.