CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
July 2022—Magnolia Medical Technologies, developers of the FDA 510(k)-cleared Steripath platform for reducing blood culture contamination for sepsis testing accuracy, announced the publication of results from a study performed by United Hospital Center, a member of the West Virginia University Health System.
The objective was to reduce the hospitalwide blood culture contamination rate from 3.06 percent to a target performance level of below one percent. This one percent or below performance level is consistent with the benchmark for best practices proposed by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute in its draft updated standards included in the second edition of “M47: Principles and Procedures for Blood Culture.”
The study measured the efficacy of Steripath in reducing false-positive blood cultures hospitalwide. Emergency department staff, laboratory phlebotomists, and nursing staff on acute-critical care floors used Steripath for blood culture collection via venipuncture and newly placed peripheral IVs over an eight-month period. Of the 5,642 blood cultures performed during the study period, 4,631 were collected with Steripath.