RESUMEN
Compared with truly negative cultures, false positive blood cultures[BCs] not only increase laboratory work but also prolong the lengths of patientstays, which are likely to increase patient morbidity and costs. The present studyaimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a hospital-wide educational interventionon BC contamination rates. Nurses performed all phlebotomies; therefore, educa-tional workshops were offered to all nurses twice a week over a 3-month period.The workshops consisted of a questionnaire, PowerPoint presentation, video show,demonstration of the different materials used to collect BCs, and question session.Data from the questionnaires and laboratory culture results were compared betweenthe 6-month pre- and post-intervention periods. Of the 503 eligible nurses, 216[42.9%] attended the workshops. The survey identified areas for improvement, whichincluded time of disinfectant application, volume of blood to be cultured, anddisinfection of BC bottle tops. Of the 9903 BC sets that were drawn from 3649patients during the study period, 676 [6.8%] were contaminated. The monthly BCcontamination rates for the 6-month pre- and post-intervention periods were 8.1%and 5.2%, respectively, representing a 36% reduction [P = 0.008]. Only three wardshad an acceptable contamination rate of