Appropriateness of blood culture: A comparison of practices between the emergency department and general wards.

Background: The decision to perform a blood culture is influenced by factors, such as the pretest probability of bacteremia, resource availability and individual clinician's preference. The lack of formal guidelines results in inconsistencies in practices and an inappropriate or overuse of blood cultures. The primary aim of this study is to compare the rate of positive blood cultures in the emergency department (ED) and general ward.

Choice of primary health care source in an urbanized low-income community in Singapore: a mixed-methods study.

Introduction: Cost and misperceptions may discourage lower income Singaporeans from utilizing primary care. We investigated sources of primary care in a low-income Singaporean community in a mixed-methods study.

Methods: Residents of a low-income public rental flat neighbourhood were asked for sociodemographic details and preferred source of primary care relative to their higher income neighbours.