Reduce the Rate of
Blood Culture Contamination
"Thirty-five to 50% of positive blood culture results indicating sepsis are false positives..."
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Blood culture tests have long been the standard of care to detect serious blood stream infections. However, false positive blood-culture test results, which generally stem from contaminated skin samples, can reach as high as 50%. This unsettling statistic is cause for significant clinical and cost concerns for healthcare professionals worldwide.
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The consequences of false-positive blood culture results can include the following:
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Contribute to unnecessary antibiotic use and resistance. Antibiotic mistreatment can also lead to drug resistant super bugs.
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Create delays in proper treatment, increasing the length and cost of a hospital stay.
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Cost an additional $4,500-$10,000+ per patient , creating a financial burden for all parties.
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Result in penalties to hospitals that are not demonstrating facility-wide antibiotic stewardship best practice, including avoiding unnecessary antibiotic use.
Numerous factors can cause blood culture contamination. A comprehensive report on ways to address the problem can be found in an article by Doren, et al , which is also summarized by the CDC in “Blood Culture Contamination: An Overview for Infection Control and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Working with the Clinical Laboratory.” Both reports conclude the use of “initial specimen diversion devices” during blood collection can be effective in reducing the rate of blood culture contamination. However, until now the high cost and complexity of available diversion devices have hindered their acceptance.
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