1422Evaluation of an Intervention to Decrease Blood Culture Contamination Rates in the Emergency Department
Year: 2014
Type: conference-abstract
Abstract: Background. Blood cultures are commonly done in hospitals to work up fever. Positive blood cultures indicate either bacteremia, or false positive blood cultures from contamination with bacterial skin flora through improper technique. False positive blood cultures are associated with unnecessary hospitalization and/or extended length of stay with consequent financial burden. False positive blood culture rates in Emergency departments (ED) are often twice as high as on the medical wards (7% vs 3% at our institution, Sentara Norfolk General Hospital (SNGH)). We present the results of an intervention to decrease false Positive blood culture rates at the SNGH ED. Methods. A pilot study with kits containing sterile gloves, masks, and blood culture supplies were introduced into the SNGH ED in July 2013, as well as training including new instructions to have two staff members present when drawing blood cultures, and prohibiting drawing blood cultures from pre-existing lines. False positive blood culture rates were measured in the weeks preceding and the weeks following this intervention. Results. In the 12 weeks following the intervention, the average false positive blood culture contamination rate in SNGH ED was 2.7% out of 1354 blood culture samples. In the 6 months preceding the intervention, the blood culture contamination rates ranged from 5.2% to 10.7% each month, with an overall rate of 7.6% out of 3240 blood culture samples. This calculates to a greater than 60% reduction in false positive blood culture rates after the intervention (p value <0.0001 using Fischer's exact test). Conclusion. Blood culture kits and educational training on proper technique resulted in significant reduction (> 60%) in the false positive blood culture rate in the SNGH ED. Studies at other institutions have suggested that reducing the false positive blood culture rate could decrease costs by preventing unnecessary hospitalizations and administration of unnecessary antibiotics, as well as helping to prevent the development of multi-drug resistant organisms. Further studies at SNGH are necessary to precisely describe the financial and other benefits of the described intervention. Disclosures. All authors: No reported disclosures.
Source: Open Forum Infectious Diseases
Authors: Pavithra Kesavan, Kathy Judge, Elizabeth Bradfield, Stephanie Troy
Language: English
Subfield: Physiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $4,053
OpenAlex ID: W2336053112