Cost-effective utilization of microbiology data

A significant number of bacterial cultures are ordered by health care professionals each day, yet the actual utilization of culture results, either for determining specific diagnoses or for targeting antimicrobial therapy, is much lower than would be anticipated. A multifactorial study was conducted to determine the rate of "appropriate" usage of culture results in a community teaching hospital. The effect of several variables on culture utilization was analyzed, including: initiator of the request for culture (physician or nurse); hospital service requesting the culture; and culture site. Utilization of results differed considerably within all three variables, yet the general conclusion could be drawn that cost-effectiveness would be significantly improved if hospital personnel gave careful consideration to the need for microbiologic cultures before they request them.