Case Studies: Case Study 6

Discussion

  • This phlebotomist violated hospital procedures in several ways that could adversely impact patient care:
  • Cleaning the site only with alcohol, not iodine, could result in a false-positive contaminated blood culture. This might result in the patient receiving unnecessary intravenous antibiotics, and could prolong the patients hospital stay unnecessarily.
  • Drawing both cultures at the same time lessens the chance of recovering a bloodstream organism.
  • Drawing both cultures from the same site might result in both of them being contaminated, making it very difficult for the physician to distinguish contamination from a “real” bloodstream infection.
  • Relevant topics:
  • Blood cultures: introduction, Avoid skin contamination, Blood culture site preparation 1, Blood culture site preparation 2

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