Blood culture collection through peripheral intravenous catheters increases the risk of specimen contamination among adult emergency department patients

Wesley H Self; Theodore Speroff; Candace D McNaughton; Patty W Wright; Geraldine Miller; James G Johnson; Titus L Daniels; Thomas R Talbot

doi:10.1086/665319

Blood culture collection through peripheral intravenous catheters increases the risk of specimen contamination among adult emergency department patients

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2012 May;33(5):524-6. doi: 10.1086/665319. Epub 2012 Mar 20.

Authors

Wesley H Self¹, Theodore Speroff, Candace D McNaughton, Patty W Wright, Geraldine Miller, James G Johnson, Titus L Daniels, Thomas R Talbot

Affiliation

¹ Department of Emergency Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. wesley.self@vanderbilt.edu

PMID: 22476282
PMCID: PMC5242221
DOI: 10.1086/665319

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).

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Adult
Bacteria / isolation & purification*
Blood Specimen Collection / methods*
Blood Specimen Collection / standards
Catheterization, Peripheral / adverse effects*
Cohort Studies
Confidence Intervals
Emergency Service, Hospital*
Humans
Risk Assessment
United States

Grants and funding

K23 HL125670/HL/NHLBI NIH HHS/United States