Abstract

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of blood culture contamination and factors associated with blood culture contamination at Emergency Department, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Methodology: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from 1st September 2012 to 31st August 2013 and included 136 consenting patients with sepsis, severe sepsis, and septicemic shock according to International Sepsis Guidelines and required intravenous antibiotics. Blood samples were collected by a various health care professionals and were correlated with culture results.
Results: The prevalence of blood culture contamination was 19.9%. Night shift work (OR, 4.73; CI, 1.35-16.57; p=0.015), semi-critical zone in triage (OR, 3.78; CI, 1.47-9.73; p=0.006) and patients who had a stroke (OR, 5.49; CI, 1.36-22.19; p=0.017) revealed significant association with the risk of blood culture contamination.
Conclusion: Blood cultures obtained during night shift work, semi critical zone in triage and stroke patients were associated with the risk of blood culture contamination.

Key words: Blood culture, working shift, triage, stroke, emergency department.