A really easy way to reduce blood culture contamination

A new paper in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology caught my eye. By making a minor modification in blood culture collection technique, the study's authors demonstrated a reduction in blood culture contamination by 50% (2.8% vs. 1.4%, p=0.005). Using a butterfly needle and a vacutainer system, an extra tube was used to collect the first mL of blood. This tube was discarded, then the blood was obtained for the culture. The authors hypothesized that skin fragments contaminated with bacteria from the venipuncture can lead to contamination of the blood culture. By discarding the initial 1 mL containing the skin fragments, a significant reduction in blood culture contamination was noted.