Files and links (1)
Accepted (AM)Open Access (License Unspecified), Open
Journal article
Neonatal blood culture inoculant volume: feasibility and challenges
PEDIATRIC RESEARCH, v 90(5), pp 1086-1092
Nov 2021
PMID: 33824451
Featured in Collection : UN Sustainable Development Goals @ Drexel
Abstract
Background Clinicians often express concerns about poor sensitivity of blood cultures in neonates resulting from inadequate inoculant volumes. Our objective was to determine the inoculant volume sent for neonatal sepsis evaluations and identify areas of improvement. Methods Single-center prospective observational study of infants undergoing sepsis evaluation. Blood volume was determined by clinician documentation over 21 months, and additionally by weighing culture bottles during 12 months. Adequate volume was defined as >= 1 mL total inoculant per evaluation. For first-time evaluations, local guidelines recommend sending an aerobic-anaerobic pair with 1 mL inoculant in each. Results There were 987 evaluations in 788 infants. Clinicians reported >= 1 mL total inoculant in 96.9% evaluations. Among 544 evaluations where bottles were weighed, 93.4% had >= 1 mL total inoculant. Very low birth weight infants undergoing evaluations >7 days after birth had the highest proportion of inadequate inoculants (14.4%). Only 3/544 evaluations and 26/1011 bottles had total inoculant Conclusions Obtaining recommended inoculant volumes is feasible in majority of neonates. Measuring inoculant volumes can focus improvement efforts and improve test reliability. Impact Clinicians express concern about the unreliability of neonatal blood cultures because of inadequate inoculant volume. We investigated over 900 evaluations and found >90% of evaluations have >= 1 mL inoculant. Monitoring adequacy of blood culture technique can identify areas of improvement and may allay concerns about blood culture reliability. Current recommendations for adequate inoculant volume for blood cultures are met in a majority of neonates. Areas of improvement include preterm late-onset sepsis evaluations and distribution techniques during inoculation.
Metrics
Details
- Title
- Neonatal blood culture inoculant volume: feasibility and challenges
- Publication Details
- PEDIATRIC RESEARCH, v 90(5), pp 1086-1092
- Publisher
- SPRINGERNATURE; LONDON
- Number of pages
- 6
- Grant note
- We acknowledge Elizabeth Quigley, MSN, Ann Schwoebel, MSN, and all advanced care clinicians and nursing staff of the Intensive Care Nursery for their support in measuring culture bottles and documenting volume of inoculants. We would also like to acknowledge Tracy Healy for her guidance in weighing blood culture bottles. This work was supported in part by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health grant (K23HD088753).
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel University
- Web of Science ID
- WOS:000637466700005
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-85104015156
- Other Identifier
- 991021860758704721
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
This publication has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:
InCites Highlights
Data related to this publication, from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool:
- Collaboration types
- Domestic collaboration
- Web of Science research areas
- Pediatrics