Models for bacteraemia risk prediction. Clinical implications

Bacteraemia has important consequences for the patient, as it is associated with worse clinical outcomes. On the other hand, unnecessarily obtaining samples for blood cultures increases costs and the workload in the microbiology laboratory. Its diagnosis implies a time delay, but decisions about start antibiotic treatment, discharge, or admits the patient must be taken during the first attention and, therefore, before known the blood cultures results. This manuscript reviews the different strategies based on clinical scores and biomarkers that are useful for predicting bacteraemia and improving initial decision-making.