Kurin Studies
When Kurin was used, even hospitals below the 3% benchmark significantly reduced blood culture contamination (BCC) rates and achieved substantial cost savings.
When Kurin was used, even hospitals below the 3% benchmark significantly reduced blood culture contamination (BCC) rates and achieved substantial cost savings.
Consider two studies designed to test the effectiveness of seatbelts in reducing motor vehicle deaths.
Study 1: sample (n)=drivers equipped with seatbelts.
Study 2: sample (n)=drivers wearing their seatbelts.
With seatbelts that have been proven to provide adequate safety restraint, drivers who were mandated to wear their seatbelt in Study 2 would likely produce a higher rate of reduction.
In Study 1, in which drivers have access to but must choose to use their seatbelt, voluntary compliance is tested. Assuming some drivers will not wear the seatbelt, Study 2 would produce a lower rate of reduction.
However, in the real world, where people have choices, only Study 1 accurately represents the impact of seatbelts given human factors.
Three factors influence the efficacy of initial specimen discard technology, sometimes referred to as initial specimen diversion devices, in reducing blood culture contamination (BCC) rates:
Sample Definition
The percent reduction in BCCs is dependent upon the definition of the study sample.
Method Inclusion
Reduction rates are also impacted by the inclusion of various methods of blood sample collection: direct venipuncture, syringe draws, and peripheral IV catheter. A real-world rate includes cultures taken by all methods, while a perfect-world rate may include only samples taken by direct venipuncture. The gap between these two rates may signify an opportunity to enforce compliance with the hospital’s existing blood culture collection policy. And, although perfect-world rates trend higher than real-world rates, they may not represent an accurate metric for clinical nor financial impact of initial specimen discard technology. Accurate measurement requires the inclusion of all blood culture collection methods.
Environmental Control
When compliance with initial specimen discard collection is heavily policed, BCC rates decline further than when clinicians autonomously chose when to use the technology. To be effective in clinical practice, an initial specimen discard method must perform consistently and present no operational challenges for the clinician, fitting seamlessly into the standard blood culture collection procedure.
With each new study, ask yourself the following questions…
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