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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2022
Clean the skin: Reducing blood culture contamination in the emergency department.
- Lincoln McNab, Wayne Varndell, Elia Vecellio, and Angela L Chiew.
- Prince of Wales Clinical School, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
- Emerg Med Australas. 2022 Dec 1; 34 (6): 100610081006-1008.
ObjectiveTo determine whether blood culture contamination (BCC) rates could be decreased in the ED by an educational programme.MethodsEducational intervention focusing on a 1-min venepuncture cleaning time and providing a larger chlorhexidine alcohol swab. BCC rates were examined retrospectively 12-month pre-, and 9-month post-intervention.ResultsSix thousand nine hundred and fifty-three blood cultures were collected over the study period. The BCC rate was 2.4% pre-intervention versus 1.8% post-intervention, with no significant difference in BCC rates (Z-score = 1.862, P = 0.063).ConclusionThis educational intervention focusing on skin clean time did not significantly decrease BCC rates in a setting of an already low (<3%) BCC rate.© 2022 The Authors. Emergency Medicine Australasia published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Australasian College for Emergency Medicine.
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