Investigating the impact of blood culture bundles on the incidence of blood culture contamination rates.
Blood cultures are integral diagnostic procedures for identifying serious infections and selecting antimicrobials. Positive blood cultures are the initial step in attaining a conclusive diagnosis of sepsis. Relative risk is blood culture contamination, false-positive blood culture results, diagnostic error delays, treatment errors, excessive lab testing, and increased length of stay. A complicating issue is the increased use of central venous access devices (CVADs). The purpose of this descriptive, comparative study is to evaluate the effectiveness of blood culture bundles on blood cultures drawn through a CVAD and contamination rates. The study revealed a decrease in blood culture contamination rates by 61%.
John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, Port Jefferson, New York (Mss Murphy, Maile, Barsch, and Jerdan). Theresa Murphy, BS, RN, CRN, VA-BC, CRNI®, is an infusion therapy coordinator responsible for decreasing complications related to peripheral and central venous accesses. She is a national INS and AVA podium and poster presenter and has had her work published in Images, E-Van, and HANYS Quality Initiative. Deborah Maile, RN, AAS, CIC, CRCST, received an associate's degree in nursing from Suffolk Community College, New York, and is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree at Delhi State University in New York. She is certified in infection prevention and central sterile. Her focus is on establishing scientifically based infection prevention practices. Tara Barsch, BS, MT, ASCP, holds bachelor degrees in biology and clinical laboratory science from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is currently the laboratory quality systems coordinator and research coordinator for the John T. Mather Memorial Hospital's Department of Clinical Trials. Florence Jerdan, PhD, RN, ANP, CNE, is the nursing research coordinator at John T. Mather Memorial Hospital and an associate professor and coordinator of the graduate nursing program at St. Joseph's College in New York.
Theresa
T
Murphy
Deborah
D
Maile
Tara
T
Barsch
Florence
F
Jerdan
D017848:Blood-Borne Pathogens; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000382:microbiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007902:Length of Stay; D019300:Medical Errors; D062666:Vascular Access Devices