Combined education and skin antisepsis intervention for persistently high blood-culture contamination rates in neonatal intensive care

Summary Contaminated blood cultures represent challenges regarding diagnosis, duration of hospitalization, antimicrobial use, pharmacy and laboratory costs. Facing problematic neonatal blood culture contamination (3.8%), we instigated a successful intervention combining skin antisepsis using sterile...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of hospital infection 2016-05, Vol.93 (1), p.105-107
Main Authors: O'Connor, C, Philip, R.K, Powell, J, Slevin, B, Quinn, C, Power, L, O'Connell, N.H, Dunne, C.P
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
2-Propanol - administration & dosage
Antisepsis - methods
Bacteria
Blood culture
Blood Culture - methods
Chlorhexidine
Chlorhexidine - administration & dosage
Chlorhexidine - analogs & derivatives
Contamination
Education, Medical
Humans
Infant, Newborn
Infectious Disease
Intensive Care, Neonatal
Intervention
Neonatal
Phlebotomy - methods
Skin - microbiology
Specimen Handling - methods
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Summary:Summary Contaminated blood cultures represent challenges regarding diagnosis, duration of hospitalization, antimicrobial use, pharmacy and laboratory costs. Facing problematic neonatal blood culture contamination (3.8%), we instigated a successful intervention combining skin antisepsis using sterile applicators with 2% chlorhexidine gluconate in 70% isopropanol prior to phlebotomy (replacing 70% isopropanol) and staff education. In the six months prior to intervention, 364 neonatal peripheral blood samples were collected. Fourteen (3.8%) were contaminated. In the post-intervention six months, 314 samples were collected. Three (0.96%) were contaminated, representing significant improvement (Fisher's exact test: P  = 0.0259). No dermatological sequelae were observed. The improvement has been sustained.
ISSN:0195-6701
1532-2939
DOI:10.1016/j.jhin.2016.01.011