Education of Phlebotomy Teams Improves Blood Volume in Blood Culture Bottles

Education of phlebotomy teams improves blood volume in blood culture bottles.

The volume of blood sampled for blood culture determines its sensitivity. We measured low mean blood volumes in submitted aerobic (8.38 ± 3.88 ml) and anaerobic (7.16 ± 3.83 ml) blood culture bottles. Educational seminars were held for phlebotomy teams, and renewed measurements thereafter revealed significantly higher blood volumes in submitted aerobic (9.77 ± 4.42 ml) and anaerobic (8.30 ± 3.6...

Ralstonia pickettii traced in blood culture bottles.

Over a 9-month period, 14 strains of Ralstonia pickettii were isolated from various biological samples inoculated in a blood culture medium. Molecular epidemiological investigation confirmed the relatedness of the strains. The source of the contamination proved to be the blood culture bottle caps.

Utilization review of the use of BACTEC PLUS high-volume blood culture bottles.

The BACTEC PLUS 26 (NR26) (Becton Dickinson, Towson, Md.) high-volume blood culture bottle replaced the less expensive smaller-volume NR6A bottle in our hospital. An audit carried out several months after their introduction revealed that only 17.5% of the NR26 bottles received the required blood volume. Several audits and educational programs were required in order to achieve a compliance rate ...

Recovery of yeast from vented blood culture bottles.

Rates of isolation of yeasts from blood cultures were significantly enhanced by venting vacuum blood culture bottles in studies of both stimulated and patients' blood cultures; however, the time interval to detection of positivity of yeasts in the clinical studies was significantly (P less than 0.01) shorter in a vented bottle with biphasic brain heart infusion medium than in a vented bottle wi...

Multifaceted Approach to Optimize Blood Volume Inoculated into Culture Bottles in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit