Performance of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Nurses in Blood Culture Procedure in Tabriz Hospitals in 2016

Background: Blood culture is a method in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and a gold standard for the diagnosis of infection that is essential for proper newborn management. The aim of this study was to compare the performance of nurses in the NICUs of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences using a standard sampling method. Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 90 nurses working in Al-Zahra and Taleghani ‎Educational and Medical Centers, and Tabriz Children Hospital using the convenience sampling method. The study tool included a two-part questionnaire in which the first part contained demographic characteristics of the infants and nurses and the service area. The second part included a checklist of the nurses' performance before and during ‎the blood culture procedure. Data analysis was performed using SPSS statistical software (version 21), as well as descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: Most nurses did not attend training courses for blood culture. The total performance scores before and during blood ‎culture sampling were ‎13.20‎‏±‏‎2.57 and ‎12.48‎‏±‏‎2‎.14‎, respectively.‎ Conclusion: Nurses are responsible for the correct sampling of blood culture and this procedure requires sufficient skill. Therefore, organizations must adapt their system to the standards in order to determine the benefits and disadvantages of the standards.