Cost analysis of strategies to reduce blood culture contamination in the emergency department: sterile collection kits and phlebotomy teams

Self WH, Talbot TR, Paul BR, Collins SP, Ward MJ.
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2014 Aug;35(8):1021-8.
Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN

  • Compared hospital costs associated with three collection strategies: usual care, sterile kits, and phlebotomy teams.
  • Baseline contamination rates associated with usual care, sterile kits, and phlebotomy teams were 4.34%, 1.68%, and 1.10%, respectively.
  • Compared to usual care, annual net savings using the sterile kit and phlebotomy team strategies were $483,219 and $288,980, respectively.

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