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Masks Strongly Recommended but Not Required in Maryland, Starting Immediately

Due to the downward trend in respiratory viruses in Maryland, masking is no longer required but remains strongly recommended in Johns Hopkins Medicine clinical locations in Maryland. Read more.

Pediatric Infectious Diseases

BrighT STAR

A Learning Health Community BrighT STAR

BrighT STAR (Testing STewardship for Antibiotic Reduction) includes children’s hospitals across the United States with a common mission to avoid unnecessary testing in critically ill children that leads to overtreatment and unintended harm.

Our mission is to support and optimize diagnostic stewardship quality improvement programs to:

  • safely reduce unnecessary testing and treatment
  • decrease antibiotic resistance
  • provide high-value care

Diagnostic stewardship is an essential component of our health care system’s advancement to a high-value care model and provides a novel strategy to reduce overuse. Diagnostic stewardship involves altering how providers order, perform and report diagnostic tests.

Considerations to Reduce Pediatric Blood Cultures

BD Diagnostics, Inc. has reported an interruption in the production of BACTEC pediatric and adult aerobic and anaerobic blood culture bottles through September 2024. While blood cultures are the primary diagnostic test to diagnose bloodstream infections, many are obtained when the suspicion of a bloodstream infection is low. We encourage everyone to be proactive and help preserve our blood culture bottle supply.

Learn more about these recommendations

More About BrighT STAR


New Blood Draw Protocol Could Minimize Risk for Critically Ill Children

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Children's Center and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have found that fostering cross-departmental collaboration and offering guidelines to clinicians helped reduce the number of unnecessary blood draws on some of the smallest and most vulnerable patients.

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Latest News

BrighT STAR Crosses International Borders

The BrighT STAR Learning Health Community has reduced over-testing, decreased antibiotic use and prevented catheter-associated bloodstream infections. A recent site visit to Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool England, helped the team better understand how to tailor the program to an NHS based unit.

Learn more about our Learning Health Community
BrighT STAR team at Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool, England

BrighT STAR Sustains Reduction in Blood Culture Rates Two Years Later

To help clinicians reduce blood draws for pediatric patients, 14 PICUs across the country took part in the BrighT STAR Collaborative, led by Johns Hopkins Children's Center. 

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blood vials

Association of Diagnostic Stewardship for Blood Cultures in Critically Ill Children

Blood culture overuse in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) can lead to unnecessary antibiotic use and contribute to antibiotic resistance. Optimizing blood culture practices through diagnostic stewardship may reduce unnecessary blood cultures and antibiotics.

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parent holding a child's hand

Antibiotic Overuse Reduced by Avoiding Unnecessary Blood Draws in Critically Ill Kids

A study of a Johns Hopkins Children’s Center-led quality improvement initiative shows that a unified approach could safely reduce unneeded blood cultures that contribute to antibiotic overuse in pediatric intensive care unit patients.

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child sleeping in a hospital bed

New Blood Draw Protocol Could Minimize Risk for Critically Ill Children

Checklist-style guidelines decreased unnecessary blood culture collection by nearly half in study.

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mother and child in a hospital bed

Contact BrighT STAR

Contact BrighT STAR

To learn more about BrighT STAR or get involved, please e-mail us.

Donate to BrighT STAR

If you would like to donate, click the link and select the Bright STAR Learning Health Community as your designation.