Tag Archives: blood culture

Blood culture surveillance (Pathology North)- contamination and double set culture rates

August 9, 2018 · by · in Health Pathology NSW · Leave a comment

Contamination (e.g. with Coagulase negative staphylococci) Across the HNE LHD, the blood culture contamination rate was 2.3% (range 1.2-4.6%) which was satisfactory (below 3%). This is the current list of potential contaminant organisms (HNELHD) NHSN potential contaminant species list augmented by Pathology North: for a positive culture (any principal source) with one of these species […]

Maximising the value of blood cultures

September 18, 2015 · by · in Bloodstream, Health Pathology NSW, Hospital practice · Leave a comment

Blood cultures give a critically important window on bacterial and fungal sepsis, providing direct patient treatment guidance and reliable antimicrobial susceptibility data that are used to construct cumulative antibiograms and empirical treatment guidelines.  They also help to rule out serious bacterial infection, provided that collection occurs prior to antibiotic treatment and an adequate patient sample is taken. Here […]

Updated blood culture collection protocols (CEC) including paediatric

February 11, 2015 · by · in Health Pathology NSW · Leave a comment

For updated neonatal, paediatric and adult blood culture sampling guidelines, please see the CEC Sepsis Kills Resource page.   If you have questions or comments about the process, please add them as comments and we will assemble a more comprehensive list of FAQ related to blood cultures and sepsis diagnosis.