title: Reduction of blood culture contamination rate by an educational intervention.
abstract: The efficacy of an educational intervention to prevent blood culture contamination (BCC) in internal medicine was studied in two medical wards in a busy tertiary-care hospital in which blood cultures were obtained by physicians rather than dedicated phlebotomists. Baseline BCC rates were 5.7% and 7.1% in intervention and control wards, respectively (p 0.6), compared with 1.95% and 6.7%, respectively, post-intervention (p < 0.001). Following multivariate analysis, only an absence of intervention was an independent variable associated with BCC. Thus simple educational intervention reduced BCC in internal medicine and was considered to be cost-effective.
authors.affiliation: Infection Control Unit, Soroka University Medical Center, Beer-sheva, Israel.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eskira
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gilad
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Schlaeffer
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hyam
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peled
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Karakis
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riesenberg
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schlaeffer
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Borer
mesh_terms: D016470:Bacteremia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001769:Blood / Q000382:microbiology*; D001800:Blood Specimen Collection / Q000379:methods*; D003513:Cycloheximide / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004203:Disinfection; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control; D000431:Ethanol / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006801:Humans; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000431:Ethanol; D003513:Cycloheximide