The Impact of Transit Times on the Detection of Bacterial Pathogens in Blood Cultures: A College of American Pathologists Q-Probes Study of 36 Institutions

Abstract

Overall process time (specimen collection to positive blood culture detection) is predicted to be higher for blood cultures collected off-site. Transit time is a variable that can be reduced to decrease overall time to detection. Thus, improved training and closer attention to preanalytic metrics associated with blood cultures could decrease hospital stays and mortality rates.