• Matthew K Muffly, Michael L Beach, Yi Cai Isaac Tong, and Mark P Yeager.
• Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA. matthew.muffly@hitchcock.org
• Am J Infect Control. 2010 Nov 1;38(9):734-9.

BackgroundPrior clinical studies have used injection port lumen culture as a marker of intravenous (IV) fluid system contamination. We hypothesized that culturing injected saline (effluent) is a more sensitive method of detecting IV fluid system bacterial contamination than lumen culture. To test this hypothesis, we compared the incidence of lumen contamination with effluent contamination in a simulated setting. We also measured the effect of a novel injection port protective device (Port Guide; Matrix Tooling, Inc, Wood Dale, IL) on contamination.MethodsIn this ex vivo study, 33 providers performed 5 injections of 1 mL sterile saline into each of 4 injection port designs: (1) stopcock, (2) stopcock with Port Guide, (3) stopcock with disinfectable needleless closed connector (DNCC), and (4) stopcock with DNCC and Port Guide. The primary outcome was the rate of effluent contamination with simultaneously contaminated injection port lumen.ResultsBacterial organisms were recovered from the effluent in 17 of the 132 injection ports evaluated. Of those 17 injection ports with contaminated effluent, 4 injection port lumens were simultaneously contaminated (24%). Additionally, use of the stopcock with Port Guide significantly reduced effluent contamination.ConclusionEffluent culture is a more sensitive marker of IV fluid system contamination than injection port lumen culture. A novel protective device on the stopcock (Port Guide) significantly reduced IV fluid system bacterial contamination.Copyright © 2010 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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