The Sum of the Parts Is Greater Than the Whole: Reducing Blood Culture Contamination

Abstract

Editorials1 February 2011The Sum of the Parts Is Greater Than the Whole: Reducing Blood Culture ContaminationJi Yeon Kim, MD, MPH and Eric S. Rosenberg, MDJi Yeon Kim, MD, MPHFrom Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.Search for more papers by this author and Eric S. Rosenberg, MDFrom Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114.Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-154-3-201102010-00010 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Determining whether a positive blood culture represents contamination at the time of collection or a true bloodstream infection is a common, time-consuming problem for physicians and clinical microbiologists. Contamination rates for routine blood cultures are estimated to range from 0.6% to more than 6% of all cultures, potentially resulting in unnecessary hospital admissions, prolonged length of stay, increased laboratory costs, and inappropriate use of antimicrobial therapy (1). False-positive blood cultures may increase laboratory costs by about 20% and are associated with a 39% increase in intravenous antibiotic charges (2); 1 university-affiliated hospital estimated the annualized cost of 6% contaminated blood ...