Abstract
Despite the availability of a few methods for direct pathogen detection from whole blood, a blood culture is still the main method for diagnosing bloodstream infections. Detection of organisms in a patient’s blood culture has both diagnostic and prognostic value and is one of the most important functions of the diagnostic microbiology laboratory. Blood cultures support growth of most bacteria and fungi in specialized nutrient broth, pathogen and non-pathogen alike. Thus, growth of microbes in a blood culture can signal the presence of a true bloodstream infection or skin commensal contaminant introduced during the collection of blood. Monitoring blood culture contamination rates is a critical process for microbiology laboratories. Contamination of blood cultures can lead to negative patient outcomes. Blood culture contamination leads to unnecessary antimicrobial therapy, prolonged hospital stays, additional laboratory tests, and additional costs. The National Health Safety Network recently issued a master organism list that takes effect beginning January 2021. This review focuses on discussion of blood culture contamination, the history of benchmarking of the quality metrics related to blood culture contamination, and the need to reduce the impacts of blood culture contamination with standardized benchmarks and best practices to prevent contamination.
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