THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CHANGING NEEDLES WHEN INOCULATING BLOOD CULTURES - A METAANALYSIS

Several recent studies have concluded that the changing of needles pri or to inoculation of blood culture bottles does not reduce the contami nation rate, although there is a consistent trend toward a reduction i n number of contaminated cultures when the needle is changed prior to inoculation. We performed a meta-analysis of available studies prospec tively comparing blood culture contamination rates with and without a needle change prior to inoculation. The overall weighted contamination rate when the needle was changed prior to inoculation was 2.0%, compa red to 3.7% when the needle was not changed. Since an increase of simi lar to$5,000 in costs per patient is associated with a contaminated bl ood culture, this reduction in contamination rate could save similar t o$85,000 for every 1,000 cultures performed. Our meta-analysis demonst rates reduced blood culture contamination when the needle used for phl ebotomy is changed prior to inoculation. This should be considered whe n setting clinical policy regarding the performance of blood cultures.