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Updated: Aug 27, 2025

Preparation of a Blood Culture Pellet for Rapid Bacterial Identification and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing
Published on: October 15, 2014
Clean the skin: Reducing blood culture contamination in the emergency department
Lincoln McNab1, Wayne Varndell2,3, Elia Vecellio4
1Prince of Wales Clinical School, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Objective:
To determine whether blood culture contamination (BCC) rates could be decreased in the ED by an educational programme.
Methods:
Educational intervention focusing on a 1-min venepuncture cleaning time and providing a larger chlorhexidine alcohol swab. BCC rates were examined retrospectively 12-month pre-, and 9-month post-intervention.
Results:
Six thousand nine hundred and fifty-three blood cultures were collected over the study period. The BCC rate was 2.4% pre-intervention versus 1.8% post-intervention, with no significant difference in BCC rates (Z-score = 1.862, P = 0.063).
Conclusion:
This educational intervention focusing on skin clean time did not significantly decrease BCC rates in a setting of an already low (<3%) BCC rate.
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