RT Journal
A1 Jenkins TC, Burman WJ
T1 DO not abandon cultures—reply
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2011
FD June 27
VO 171
IS 12
SP 1128
OP 1128
DO 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.261
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2011.261
AB 
We appreciate the letter by Dr Johnson in response to our study describing the impact of a clinical practice guideline on antibiotic and health care resource utilization for inpatient cellulitis and cutaneous abscess.1 He suggests that our phrasing, “significant decrease in the use of microbiological cultures,” may inadvertently discourage providers from obtaining appropriate cultures. To clarify, in our guideline published as an eFigure along with the article, we advocate performing cultures for all abscess drainage procedures and the selective use of blood cultures and we discourage use of wound swab cultures.