The American journal of medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
A randomized trial of povidone-iodine compared with iodine tincture for venipuncture site disinfection: effects on rates of blood culture contamination.
Contamination of blood cultures creates problems in their interpretation and unneeded resource utilization. Because skin flora comprise the major group of contaminant species, more effective skin disinfection at the venipuncture site could reduce contamination. ⋯ Iodine tincture is superior to povidone-iodine for venipuncture site antisepsis before blood culture sampling. Because of the high costs associated with contaminated blood cultures, hospitals should consider switching from povidone-iodine to iodine tincture. Reduction of the contamination rate may improve the quality of patient care and reduce hospital costs.
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To describe the observed sequence of withdrawal of eight different forms of life-sustaining treatment and to determine whether aspects of those treatments determine the order of withdrawal. ⋯ The preference for withdrawing some forms of life-sustaining treatments more than others is associated with intrinsic characteristics of these treatments. Once the decision has been made to forgo life-sustaining treatment, the process remains complex and appears to target many different goals simultaneously.