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Blood Culture Collection through Peripheral Intravenous Catheters Increases the Risk of Specimen Contamination among Adult Emergency Department Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Wesley H. Self*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
Theodore Speroff
Affiliation:
Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center and Center for Health Services Research, Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, Tennessee Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
Candace D. McNaughton
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center and Center for Health Services Research, Veterans Affairs Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, Nashville, Tennessee
Patty W. Wright
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
Geraldine Miller
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
James G. Johnson
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
Titus L. Daniels
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
Thomas R. Talbot
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee
*
1313 21st Avenue South, 703 Oxford House, Nashville, TN 37232-4700 (wesley.self@vanderbilt.edu)

Abstract

Five hundred five blood cultures collected through a peripheral intravenous catheter (PIV) in an emergency department were matched to cultures obtained by dedicated venipuncture from the same patient within 10 minutes. The relative risk of contamination for cultures collected through PIVs compared with dedicated venipuncture was 1.83 (95% confidence interval, 1.08–3.11).

Type
Concise Communication
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2012

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