Process improvement in automated blood cultures: Our road to better patient care.

BACKGROUND

Blood cultures (BC) are a complex multistep process susceptible to errors at multiple levels. Our study was conducted to monitor the compliance to standard operating procedures, design an intervention plan for improvement and monitor the impact of the intervention. The study design focuses on the intervention.

METHODS

A hospital-based prospective interventional study was carried out, monitoring various pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical factors in two phases. Our interventions focused on communication and training for the deficiencies noted in completeness of test request form, contamination rates, and sample loading interval.

RESULTS

Comparison between both phases showed a statistically significant improvement (p < 0.05, Chi square test) following our interventions in the completeness of test request form, contamination rates and sample loading interval. There was an improvement in the intimation of critical Gram stain from positive flagged bottles, which was not statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Our study highlights how educational interventions can influence quality of BC. Continuous monitoring and interventions are key for quality improvement in BC processes.