Navigating reflex urine culture practices in community hospitals: Need for a validated approach

Dorothy Ling; Jessica Seidelman; Elizabeth Dodds-Ashley; Sarah Lewis; Rebekah W Moehring; Deverick J Anderson; Sonali Advani

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2020.06.218

Navigating reflex urine culture practices in community hospitals: Need for a validated approach

Am J Infect Control. 2020 Dec;48(12):1549-1551. doi: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.06.218. Epub 2020 Jul 4.

Authors

Dorothy Ling¹, Jessica Seidelman¹, Elizabeth Dodds-Ashley¹, Sarah Lewis¹, Rebekah W Moehring¹, Deverick J Anderson¹, Sonali Advani²

Affiliations

¹ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC; Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention, Durham, NC.
² Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC; Duke Center for Antimicrobial Stewardship and Infection Prevention, Durham, NC. Electronic address: sonali.advani@duke.edu.

PMID: 32634538
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajic.2020.06.218

Abstract

We performed a descriptive study of reflex urine culture (RUC) practices across 51 community hospitals in southeastern United States. We found that 26 unique reflexing criteria were used in 28 hospitals. Only 14% hospitals of hospitals that offered RUC restricted it to specific populations (eg, emergency room). Our data suggest that the current RUC approach in community hospitals warrants further validation of urinalysis criteria and identification of specific populations in which RUC performs best.

Keywords: Asymptomatic bacteriuria; Diagnostic stewardship; Laboratory stewardship; Stewardship of culturing.

MeSH terms

Bacteriuria*
Hospitals, Community
Humans
Reflex
Southeastern United States
Urinalysis
Urinary Tract Infections*
Urine