Rapid Implementation of Blood Culture Stewardship Institutional Response to an Acute National Blood Culture Bottle Shortage

The authors describe their health system’s significant reduction in blood culture orders during one week of a blood culture bottle shortage. Their stewardship efforts included guidance to providers in electronic health record blood culture order sets, restricting repeat blood cultures collected within 48 hours, limiting initial blood culture orders to a single set, and limiting initial blood culture orders to a single set except for patients with a Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock Management Bundle (SEP-1) alert.