A series of two consecutive blood culture sets collected from different venipuncture sites are usually recommended to rule out bacteremia or septicemia.
In endocarditis, 3 blood cultures sets should be collected in 24 hours, taken from different venipuncture sites, with a gap of at least 45-60 minutes between each set.
For suspected catheter-related blood stream infections (CLABSI), one blood culture set should be collected from the catheter and at the same time, another blood culture set should be collected by venipuncture.
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Both an aerobic and anaerobic blood culture should be sent as part of the set.
- 1. Draw blood samples, prior to antibiotic therapy.
- 2. Inspect the blood culture bottles for expiry date and bottom color change, before use.
- 3. Use gloves and prepare vials.
- 4. Identify the venipuncture, by palpating the vein.
- 5. Clean the skin, using 2% Chlorhexidine and 70% isopropyl alcohol formulation.
- 6. Do not palpate the vein again after disinfection. If such is required, sterile gloves should be used or the finger used to palpate the vein must also be disinfected.
- 7. Remove over caps from bottle and cleanse the rubber septum with 70% alcohol wipes. Do not use iodine.
- 8. Remove alcohol wipe and allow the septum to dry for 1 minute, before inoculating the blood sample.
- 9. Place the patient label on culture bottle with the site of specimen collected. When applying patient identification labels, do not cover the bar code label on the blood culture bottles and place it vertically.
For blood cultures collected from a central line, the hub should be disinfected with 70% alcohol wipe. Discard the first 1.5 ml of the collected blood before inoculating the bottles.
For suspected catheter-related blood stream infections (CLABSI), collect cultures from the central line and periphery simultaneously.
