Order of Draw

How Is a Blood Culture Done?

1. clean the skin.
2. put an elastic band (tourniquet) above the area to get the veins to swell with blood.
3. insert a needle into a vein (usually in the arm inside of the elbow or on the back of the hand)
4. pull the blood sample into a vial or syringe.

Collect one set of blood cultures from a Peripheral Stab AND from EACH indwelling line (arterial, central line, PICC). Each set of blood cultures consists of one anaerobic and one aerobic bottle. Cultures from all sites should be drawn within 15 minutes.

Top of blood culture bottles need to be cleansed with alcohol before use. Cleaning the venipuncture site is the most important part of the blood collection procedure.

Blood cultures should be drawn prior to initiation of antimicrobial therapy. Preparation of skin prior to blood culture collection is important to prevent contamination of sample. At least two (2) sets of blood cultures should be obtained (each set includes one (1) aerobic and one (1) anaerobic bottle).

1. Blood Culture Tubes or Vials.
2. Coagulation Tubes (Blue-Top Tubes)
3. Serum Tubes without Clot Activator or Gel (Red-Top tubes)
4. Serum Tubes with Clot Activator or Gel (Gold or Tiger Top Tubes)
5. Heparin Tubes (Green-Top Tubes)
6. EDTA Tubes (Lavender-Top Tubes)
7. Oxalate/Fluoride Tubes (Gray-Top Tubes)

PHLEBOTOMY SERVICES

The aerobic bottle should be inoculated first as there is about 0.5 cc of air in the line of the collection set and sometimes it is difficult to obtain 8-10 cc of blood per bottle (15-20 cc/set). The aerobic bottle is the more critical one to inoculate short samples into.

How a blood culture is performed. The blood draw may be performed in a hospital, emergency department, or specialized testing facility. Blood cultures are rarely done in an outpatient setting. To start, your skin is cleaned to prevent any microorganisms on your skin from contaminating the test.

Bacteremia is the presence of bacteria in the bloodstream.

Bloodborne pathogens can cause infections and diseases including HIV, hepatitis, MRSA, and C. diff and can be transmitted through contact with an infected person’s blood or body fluids. Because these infections and diseases are difficult to treat, it’s important to learn what causes them and how to prevent them.

A blood culture is done to: Find a bacterial infection that has spread into the blood, such as meningitis, osteomyelitis, pneumonia, a kidney infection, or sepsis. A culture can also show what type of bacteria is causing the infection. Find a fungal infection, such as yeast, in the blood.

Blood cultures are used to detect the presence of bacteria or fungi in the blood, to identify the type present, and to guide treatment. Testing is used to identify a blood infection (septicemia) that can lead to sepsis, a serious and life-threatening complication.

A typical routine blood test is the complete blood count, also called CBC, to count your red and white blood cells as well as measure your hemoglobin levels and other blood components. This test can uncover anemia, infection, and even cancer of the blood.

A bacteria culture test can help find harmful bacteria in your body. During a bacteria culture test, a sample will be taken from your blood, urine, skin, or other part of your body. The type of sample depends on the location of the suspected infection.

Results. Some types of bacteria, fungi, and viruses grow quickly in culture, and some grow slowly. Test results may take from 1 day to several weeks, depending on the type of infection suspected.

The most common infections diagnosed by urinalysis are UTIs, which are one of the most common bacterial infections that require medical intervention. Several other infections such as community-acquired pneumonia and viremia infections can also be diagnosed with the help of urinalysis.

A negative result means that no organisms grew in the culture from your wound. A positive result means that bacteria or other organisms did grow and that your wound is infected. From your test results, your healthcare provider can figure out the best antibiotic to treat it.

Conclusion/recommendation: Evidence indicates that identification of potential chronic wound infection should be considered early using clinical signs such as pain, necrotic tissue, delayed healing, and wound deterioration (in addition to classic signs of infection) to determine the need for collecting a culture ( …

The Levine Quantitative Swab Technique:

1. Cleanse wound with normal saline.
2. Pat dry wound bed with sterile gauze.
3. Culture the healthiest looking tissue, excluding exudate, purulent, devitalized tissue.
4. Spin the end of the sterile applicator over a 1cmx1cm area for at least 5 seconds.

Culture wound prior to initiation of antibiotics if signs or symptoms of infection are present. If Culture and Sensitivity (C&S) is obtained after antibiotics have been started, list the antibiotic(s) on the laboratory C&S request. 1. Wash hands, apply gloves, remove soiled dressing and place in biohazard bag.

A wound culture must be taken from clean tissue because pus or necrotic tissue will not provide an accurate profile of the microflora contained within the tissue. Insert swab into the sterile container. Redress the wound and perform hand hygiene.

Most clinical material can be held for several hours in a refrigerator before culturing if it cannot be processed immediately. This is particularly true with the following specimen types: urine, sputum, and material on swabs taken from a variety of sources. DO NOT refrigerate body fluids such as CSF or blood.

Wound tracing is a reliable two-dimensional method of recording wound area that is easy to use and requires no special skills. When used in combination with planimetric area calculation it has good validity for shallow, pear-shaped wounds without undermined margins.

The Triangle of Wound Assessment is a new tool that extends the current concepts of wound bed preparation and TIME beyond the wound edge5. It divides assessment of the wound into three areas: the wound bed, the wound edge, and the periwound skin.