Blood culture contamination is a huge problem in the hospital. If strict aseptic technique is not used, patients can be treated unnecessarily, leading to complications from intravenous antimicrobial use. Unnecessary treatment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. A number of changes in how blood cultures are collected have been shown to lower the percent contamination. These will be discussed in this presentation.

Learning Objectives:
After Completing this activity, the learner will be able to:

1. Discuss the three interventions that have been shown to lower blood culture contamination
2. Discuss what a PICO based evidence-review means
3. Discuss the target for lowering blood culture contamination at their own institution