Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology Publication Info
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Skin Antisepsis Kits Containing Alcohol and Chlorhexidine Gluconate or Tincture of Iodine Are Associated With Low Rates of Blood Culture Contamination
Formats Available in JSTOR: PDF
Abstract(back to top)
OBJECTIVE. Skin preparation is an important factor in reducing the rate of blood culture contamination. We assessed blood culture contamination rates associated with the use of skin antisepsis kits containing either 2% alcoholic chlorhexidine gluconate or 2% alcoholic tincture of iodine.
DESIGN. Prospective, blinded clinical trial.
SETTING. Tertiary‐care teaching hospital.
PATIENTS. Adult patients in medical wards, the medical intensive care unit, and the cardiac intensive care unit who needed paired, percutaneous blood cultures.
INTERVENTIONS. House officers, medical students, and healthcare technicians drew the blood for cultures. We prepared sacks containing all of the necessary supplies, including two different types of antiseptic kits. In each sack, one kit contained 2% chlorhexidine in 70% isopropyl alcohol and the other contained 2% tincture of iodine in ethyl alcohol and 70% isopropyl alcohol. Each patient received chlorhexidine at one site and tincture of iodine at the other.
RESULTS. Four (0.9%) of 430 blood culture sets from 215 patients were contaminated. The contamination rate when using alcohol and chlorhexidine (1 of 215, 0.5%) did not differ significantly from the contamination rate when using tincture of iodine (3 of 215, 1.4%; P = .62, McNemar test). There was an 87% probability that the two interventions differed by less than 2% in their rate of contamination.
CONCLUSIONS. Both of these antiseptic kits were highly effective for skin preparation prior to drawing blood for cultures. The use of these kits may have contributed to the low contamination rate observed in this study.
Bibliographic Information(back to top)
- Skin Antisepsis Kits Containing Alcohol and Chlorhexidine Gluconate or Tincture of Iodine Are Associated With Low Rates of Blood Culture Contamination
- Barbara W. Trautner , MD, Jill E. Clarridge , PhD and Rabih O. Darouiche , MD
- Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology
- Vol. 23, No. 7 (July 2002) (pp. 397-401)
Notes and References(back to top)
This item contains 1 note(s).
Notes
Drs. Trautner and Darouiche are from the Department of Medicine, Infectious Diseases Section; Dr. Darouiche is also from the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Center for Prosthesis Infection; and Dr. Clarridge is from the Department of Pathology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas. Address reprint requests to Rabih O. Darouiche, MD, Center for Prosthesis Infection, Baylor College of Medicine, 1333 Moursund Avenue, Suite A221, Houston, TX 77030. The Houston Department of Veterans Affairs and Medi‐Flex Hospital Products (Overland Park, KS) provided the antiseptic‐containing kits and an unrestricted educational grant of $5,000.
Items Citing this Item (back to top)
3 item(s) in JSTOR cite this item
- Lauren Marlowe , MD; Rakesh D. Mistry , MD, MS; Susan Coffin , MD, MPH; Kateri H. Leckerman , MS; Karin L. McGowan , PhD; Dingwei Dai , PhD; Louis M. Bell , MD; Theoklis Zaoutis , MD, MSCEVol. 31, No. 2 (February 2010) pp. 171-176Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/650201
- Anurag Malani , MD; Kim Trimble , MD; Vikas Parekh , MD; Carol Chenoweth , MD; Samuel Kaufman , MA; Sanjay Saint , MD, MPHVol. 28, No. 7 (July 2007) pp. 892-895Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/518456
- Nasia Safdar , MD; Dennis G. Maki , MDVol. 27, No. 1 (January 2006) pp. 3-7Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/500282