Bloodstream infections, antibiotic resistance and the practice of blood culture sampling in Germany: study design of a Thuringia-wide prospective population-based study (AlertsNet)

INTRODUCTION: Bloodstream infections are a major cause of death worldwide; blood culture (BC) sampling remains the most important tool for their diagnosis. Current data suggest that BC rates in German hospitals are considerably lower than recommended; this points to shortfalls in the application of microbiological analyses. Since early and appropriate BC diagnostics are associated with reduced case fatality rates and a shorter duration of antimicrobial therapy, a multicomponent study for the improvement of BC diagnostics was developed. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: An electronic BC registry established for the German Federal state of Thuringia is the structural basis of this study. The registry includes individual patient data (microbiological results and clinical data) and institutional information for all clinically relevant positive BCs at the participating centres. First, classic result quality indicators for bloodstream infections (eg, sepsis rates) will be studied using Poisson regression models (adjusted for institutional characteristics) in order to derive relative ranks for feedback to clinical institutions. Second, a target value will be established for the process indicator BC rate. On the basis of this target value, recommendations will be made for a given combination of institutional characteristics as a reference for future use in quality control. An interventional study aiming at the improvement of BC rates will be conducted thereafter. On the basis of the results of a survey in the participating institutions, a targeted educational intervention will be developed. The success of the educational intervention will be measured by changes in the process indicator and the result indicators over time using a pre–post design. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was obtained from the Ethics committee of the University Hospital Jena and from the Ethics committee of the State Chamber of Physicians of Thuringia. Findings of AlertsNet will be disseminated through public media releases and publications in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: DRKS00004825.