Policy and Procedure of Obtaining Blood Cultures

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Policies and procedures are guidelines that are instituted and followed by organizational staff to perform skills or interventions safely and proficiently. Examined below is the policy and procedure for nursing staff to obtain blood cultures via central catheters. Also mentioned below is the survey of five unit nurses performing this procedure and possible deviations taken from the current Salem Hospital policy. Possible reasons of not following an institution’s policy and procedure guidelines, consequences of not following evidence-based practice, and proper response when discovering unsafe practice are also researched.

Procedure

The nursing policy and procedure this author chose to further research was obtaining blood cultures from central catheters. Peripheral blood culture sampling is preferred due to less probability of contamination and has a higher bacteria specificity rate (Halm, Hickson, Stein, Tanner, & VanderGraaf, 2011), but there are instances where a sample for a culture is specifically warranted and ordered from a central catheter line. Due to the infrequency of this sample acquiring, nurses must gain familiarity with the correct policy and procedure to obtain these samples this is why this nurse chose this particular procedure.

Locating Blood Culture Policy and Procedure

At my current organization, Salem Hospital, the nursing policies and procedures are no longer in written form. They are all accessed on the computer via the hospital’s personal intranet. The hospital’s intranet contains a search engine where you type the policy or procedure that is being searched for and the results appear on the screen. This makes it relatively easy to search of policies or procedures such as obtaining blood cultures via ...

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...of Critical Care, 20(4), 335-338. doi: 10.4037/ajcc2011519

Salem Health. (2011). Clinical Department Level Policy and Procedure Bact/Alert. Retrieved from https://secureconnect.salemhospital.org/clinical/Lab/microbact/,DanaInfo=shpolicy.phhservices.org+Blood%20Culture%20Procedure%20BacT%20Alert.pdf

Schallom, L., & Shomo, J. E. (2011). Keeping the Lines Open with Evidence-Based Practice and Advanced Technologies. ProCE, Inc., Retrieved from http://www.proce.com/monographs/Keeping%20the%20Lines%20Open%20with%20Evidence-Based%20Practice%20and%20Advanced%20Technologies.pdf

Zhong, E. H., Kenward, K., Sheets, V. R., Doherty, M. E., & Gross, L. (2009, March). Probation and Recidivism: Remediation among Disciplined Nurses in Six States. AJN, American Journal of Nursing, 109(3), 48-57. Retrieved from http://www.nursingcenter.com/library/JurnalArticle.asp?Article_ID=846268

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