| Popis: |
Introduction It is recommended that blood cultures are collected from those with moderate to severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP)1. Positivity of blood culture in childhood CAP is often quoted as Methods The total numbers of blood culture collected from paediatric age group patients were obtained from microbiology laboratory quality officer, and they were subdivided into those taken in the emergency department, paediatric assessment unit and also the general paediatric ward. Positive results were looked at, and the diagnoses were extracted from the patients‘ charts to see any of those were diagnosed as community-acquired pneumonia. Results In total, from 1st January 2018 till 31st December 2018, there were 934 blood cultures taken from paediatric age group patients. There were 398 (42%) taken in general paediatric ward, 215 (3%) taken in paediatric assessment unit and 321 (34.4%) taken in the emergency department. However, there were only 40 (4.5%) positive blood cultures out of 934 samples sent. Eleven out of 40 (27.5%) positive cultures were treated as true positive cultures. Only one out of the eleven patients was diagnosed with Streptococcus pneumonia CAP sepsis, and the patient has a background history of Trisomy 21. Most of the positive cultures were contaminants, and two were from patients diagnosed with CAP. Conclusion Blood cultures should not be routinely taken from patients diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia as there is a high prevalence of viral respiratory infection in children, and the probability of false-positive blood cultures that may lead to unnecessary repeat cultures, hospitalisation and parental distress. Special considerations should be taken into account when deciding to collect blood cultures from patients diagnosed with CAP such as from children with long-standing comorbidities that may complicate the course of the illness or children who presented with evidence of sepsis or complicated illness. More importantly, guidelines on when blood culture is necessary and when it should be repeated are crucial in ensuring a better quality of care. |
