ABSTRACT
Owing to a persistently high blood culture contamination rate of 3.2% exceeding the target rate of <3%, a midwestern United States hospital began a series of 3 additive interventions. After collecting phlebotomist data for approximately 3â¯months, reporting of individual contamination rates commenced. A specialized trainer reeducated staff with high rates, which resulted in a modest decrease in contamination rates (3.2% to 2.8%, Pâ¯=â¯0.23). A second, additional intervention requiring phlebotomists to wear hair nets and face masks resulted in marked improvement from a mean of 2.8% to 1.1% (Pâ¯<â¯.0001). In a final, third addition, whenever possible, the replacement of nursing staff by phlebotomy staff for blood specimen collection did not result in a significant change in mean contamination (Pâ¯=â¯0.81). Overall, the mean contamination rate progressively declined in a stepwise manner from 3.2% to 1.2% (Pâ¯=â¯.0013), with the greatest decline after adding hair nets and face masks.