Proper collection of blood cultures is needed to identify pathogens causing serious infections and direct appropriate antibiotic therapy. Blood culture contamination can lead to longer hospital stays, incorrect antibiotic treatment, additional testing, and overall increased costs for the patient and hospital. Blood culture collection technique is the most important factor affecting contamination rates.
The purpose of this project was to determine the effect of simulation reinforcement of blood culture collection processes on the rate of contamination of blood cultures drawn by nurses in a community medical center emergency department.
This one-group before-and-after cohort study utilized a convenience sample of 50 nurses who collect blood cultures on adult clients. Each participant completed a pretest, attended a simulation in-service class, and completed a posttest immediately after the simulation and again one-month later.
There was significant knowledge gained from pretest to immediate posttest, with no significant decrease in knowledge at I-month post-intervention. The 3-month blood culture contamination rate was 3.26% prior to the intervention, 4% during the intervention period, 3.7% after the intervention, and 2% in months 4 aI1d 5 postintervention. The use of simulation in the professional development of practicing nurses has the potential to improve clinical practice performance and patient outcomes.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unf.edu/oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1210 |
| Date | 01 January 2011 |
| Creators | Christeleit, Deborah |
| Publisher | UNF Digital Commons |
| Source Sets | University of North Florida |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | UNF Theses and Dissertations |
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