Blood culture use in the emergency department in patients hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia.

Abstract
Routine blood cultures for all patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia have limited utility, and false-positive results lead to inappropriate antimicrobial use and longer hospital stays.1 As a result, performance measures and practice guidelines that promoted obtaining blood cultures in all such patients were modified from 2005 through 2007 to recommend routine collection in only the sickest patients.1,2 Using a national sample of emergency department visits, we examined patterns of obtaining cultures in adults hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia.