Effect of delayed entry of blood culture bottles in BACTEC automated blood culture system in the context of laboratory consolidation.

Delayed entry of blood culture bottles is frequent in consolidated laboratories. A retrospective study evaluated time from insertion to detection and total detection time as a function of preincubation time, and we prospectively looked for false negative results. 69,604 blood culture bottles were reviewed for preincubation time, incubation time and total detection time.