Swedish emergency nurses' experiences of the preconditions for the safe collection of blood culture in the emergency department during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

In Sweden, blood culture sampling is a frequently used technical procedure carried out by the emergency nurses in the emergency departments (ED) and requires sufficient time and attention when being performed. Contamination during blood culture sampling is a frequent problem, especially in EDs, which can lead to difficulties in giving the patient the right diagnosis and treatment (Cervero et al., 2019). The contamination usually occurs when the microorganism, mainly coagulant negative staphylococci (CNS), which normally exists on the patient's skin, come into contact with the sterile blood culture equipment (Garcia et al., 2015). The negative consequences of contaminated blood culture are prolonged patient treatment with increased healthcare costs and possible

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on blood culture practices and bloodstream infections

“…This may suggest that the various factors theorized to explain the increased contaminant rates during the pandemic (new PPE protocols, increased workload, reassignment of nursing staff to new units) have especially affected emergency departments and ambulatory laboratories rather than admitted patients. Additionally, certain pressures unique to the emergency department, including patient acuity, the backlog of patients due to saturated wards, and the proportion of patients requiring PPE, may have contributed ( 25 ). Given that contaminant blood cultures lead to unnecessary empiric antimicrobial use, our findings demonstrate a potential underappreciated cost of the pandemic to patients, including adverse drug events, antimicrobial resistance, and length of stay ( 26 ).…”