SIMULATED INTERACTIVE MANAGEMENT SERIES

Simple measures to reduce the rate of contamination of blood cultures in Accident and Emergency

M Madeo¹, T Jackson² and C Williams¹

¹ Department of Infection Control, Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals, Hull, UK
² Department of Accident and Emergency, Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals, Hull, UK

Correspondence to:
Correspondence to:
Dr C Williams
Department of Microbiology, Yorkhill Hospital, Dalnair Street, Glasgow G3 8SJ, UK; craig.williams{at}yorkhill.scot.nhs.uk

Objectives: To reduce the contamination rate of blood cultures taken in the Accident and Emergency (A&E) department.

Methods: The standard blood culture sampling kit was supplemented with an instruction sheet on the optimal method for drawing blood cultures and a large 62% ethyl alcohol impregnated wipe.

Results: There was a statistically significant reduction in the number of contaminants (p = 0.03).

Conclusions: Simple measures to encourage skin disinfection and appropriate sampling technique will reduce the incidence of contamination of blood cultures in the A&E department.

Abbreviations: CNS, coagulase negative staphylococci

Keywords: skin disinfection; blood culture; contamination

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Gander, R. M., Byrd, L., DeCrescenzo, M., Hirany, S., Bowen, M., Baughman, J. (2009). Impact of Blood Cultures Drawn by Phlebotomy on Contamination Rates and Health Care Costs in a Hospital Emergency Department. J. Clin. Microbiol. 47: 1021-1024 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Qamruddin, A, Khanna, N, Orr, D (2008). Peripheral blood culture contamination in adults and venepuncture technique: prospective cohort study. J. Clin. Pathol. 61: 509-513 [Abstract] [Full Text]