Significance of Reducing Blood Culture Contamination

     Blood culture contamination is a 10.1 billion dollar problem worldwide. The cost of contamination for medium to large hospitals typically ranges from $4.6 million - $20.9 million annually1,2,3,4. The financial costs of blood culture contamination are the result unnecessary treatment of patients prompted by the false positive blood culture. Contamination of blood cultures complicates the diagnosis and treatment of patients. 

     Over 160 clinical investigations on the subject of blood culture contamination have been published in well respected scientific journals including the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Journal of the American Medical Association, Journal of Hospital Infection, European Journal of Clinical Microbiology, The American Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Clinical Pathology, Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, Pediatrics, Critical Care Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Chest, Lancet, Clinical Microbiology Reviews, Journal of Clinical Pathology, Emergency Medicine Journal, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Journal of American Medical Informatics Association, Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, Archive of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and Clinical Performance and Quality Health Care.

       Many advisory organizations including the College of American Pathologists (CAP), Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI), Center for Phlebotomy, and American Society for Microbiology have specific programs or make recommendations on the problem of blood culture contamination.  

       The Clean Collect Blood Collection System will greatly reduce blood culture contamination rates using diversion of initial blood flow. Read more about Diversion of Initial Blood Flow or the Clean Collect Blood Collection Kit.   

  

visit www.cleancollect.com for more information

 

1.1. Gander RM, Byrd L, DeCrescenzo M, Hirany S, Bowen M, and Baughman J. Impact of Phlebotomy-Drawn Blood Cultures on Contamination Rates and Health Care Costs in a Hospital Emergency Department. JCM 2009 Apr: 47(4): p. 1021 -1024
2.
2.2. Zwang O, Albert RK. Analysis of strategies to improve cost effectiveness of blood cultures. Journal of Hosp Med. 2006 Sep;1(5):272-6
3.
3.3. Surdulescu, S., D. Utamsingh, and R. Shekar. Phlebotomy teams reduce blood-culture contamination rate and save money. Clin. Perform. Qual. Health Care 6:60-62. 1998.
4.
4.4. 4. Bates DW, Goldman L, Lee TH. Contaminant blood cultures and resource utilization. The true consequences of false-positive results. JAMA. 1991 Jan 16;265(3):365-9

 

 

<<Back to Clean Collect

 

 

Home | Entrepreneurs | Research | Clinical Laboratories | Careers | About Us

Contact Us | Latest News | Investor Relations

 

Stone Medical Corporation © 2007 All Rights Reserved.