Table 1.
Clinician reported reasons prompting endotracheal aspirate cultures
| Reasons | Frequencya | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Fever | 17 | 0.68 |
| Decreased O2 saturation | 11 | 0.44 |
| More frequent desaturations | 10 | 0.40 |
| Increased FIO2 | 10 | 0.40 |
| Change in secretions | 10 | 0.40 |
| Rising WBC | 8 | 0.32 |
| Increased end tidal CO2 | 6 | 0.24 |
| New opacity | 5 | 0.20 |
| Rising CRP | 4 | 0.16 |
| Increased ventilator pressure | 3 | 0.12 |
| Re-intubated | 2 | 0.08 |
| Don’t know | 2 | 0.08 |
| Bandemia | 2 | 0.08 |
Clinicians were surveyed after 25 endotracheal aspirate cultures were obtained regarding clinical changes that prompted obtaining the culture.
a
The survey allowed selecting all possible options, therefore the sum is >25. Eleven EACs (44%) had isolated or non-specific clinic changes reported: fever alone (n=4), hypotension alone (n=2), increase in ventilator settings alone (n=2), or fever with rising WBC or rising CRP without other clinic changes (n=3). The other 14 EACs had multiple clinical changes.
Abbreviations: O2- oxygen, FIO2- fraction of inspired oxygen, WBC- white blood cell count, CO2- carbon dioxide, CRP-C-reactive protein.