Most blood cultures should be ordered as 3 sets (a set consists 
of a pair of aerobic and anaerobic bottles) of bottles containing 10 
mL of blood each (60 mL total).

To diagnose catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) please use 
the CRBSI order panel in Epic [O116026] instead of this order.

Key principles for the success of blood culture are as follows:
1) Sensitivity is determined by the total blood volume collected,
   before antibiotics.
   a. 6 full (10 mL each) bottles will miss 2% of bloodstream
      infections.
   b. 4 full (10 mL) bottles will miss 13% of bloodstream infections.
   c. 2 full or 4 half-full bottles will miss 28% of bloodstream
      infections.
   d. Ideally, three venipunctures should be performed immediately but
      a third set of bottles can be drawn at a 4-6 hour delay without
      significant loss of yield. 
2) False positive cultures are avoided by proper antisepsis and never
   drawing from indwelling catheters when a peripheral stick can be
   obtained.  Multiple venipunctures assist with interpretation of
   culture contaminants.