A prospective clinical trial on prevention of catheter contamination using the hub protection cap for needleless injection device.
BACKGROUND
Catheter hub contamination has been recognized as a source of catheter-related bloodstream infections. We have investigated the efficacy of a protection cap for a needleless injection device in preventing intraluminal catheter contamination, compared with a conventional 3-way stopcock.


METHODS
Adult patients requiring an intravascular catheter placement for at least 48 hours in an intensive care unit were randomly assigned to receive either the needleless injection device with protection cap (test group, n = 31, number of devices = 151) or with a conventional 3-way stopcock (comparator group, n = 33, number of devices = 179). To evaluate intraluminal contamination, we examined the bacteria isolated in the inline bacterial filters, which were attached downstream of the injection ports.


RESULTS
The incidence of bacterial contamination was significantly different between the groups (test group 2/151 (1.3%) vs comparator group 11/179 (6.2%), P = .04). There was no correlation between the microbial contamination rate and the in situ time of catheter or numbers of injections.


CONCLUSIONS
The protection cap for needleless injection devices decreased microbial transfer from the injection port to the intraluminal fluid pathway and lowered the risk of catheter-related bloodstream infections.
Emergency and Critical Care Medicine, Tokushima University Hospital, Tokushima, Japan. joto@clin.med.tokushima-u.ac.jp
Jun
J
Oto
Hideaki
H
Imanaka
Masatoshi
M
Konno
Emiko
E
Nakataki
Masaji
M
Nishimura
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016470:Bacteremia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D055499:Catheter-Related Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002404:Catheterization / Q000379:methods*; D057785:Catheters / Q000382:microbiology*; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000382:microbiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult