Many global infectious disease and sepsis guidelines suggest a multisite sampling (MSS) strategy of blood cultures to diagnose bloodstream infections, however, single-site sampling (SSS) may be a viable alternative. This systematic review aims to identify the current state of literature comparing SSS to MSS.

MEDLINE, CINAHL, Pubmed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched from inception to August 2023. Studies comparing SSS and MSS in hospital settings among adult patients were included. Key outcomes being compared were bacteremia detection, contamination rates, and volume of sample collected.

Seven studies met the inclusion criteria and were selected, with a total of 18,901 participants and 24,955 blood culture samples. Despite differences in collection methods, 5 out of 7 studies highlighted that increased blood volume using the SSS technique improves pathogen detection and lowers contamination rates. The studies evaluated were of variable quality with potential bias.

This systematic review demonstrates that the SSS technique for blood culture collection provides similar, if not improved, rates of bacteremia detection without increased contamination. We recommend that the above evidence is considered in future guideline publications.