Nationwide Survey of Blood Culture Protocol in Clinical Microbiology Laboratories in Korea

Young Ah Kim; Dokyun Kim; Dongeun Yong

doi:10.5145/ACM.2021.19.4.97

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Kim, Kim, and Yong: Nationwide Survey of Blood Culture Protocol in Clinical Microbiology Laboratories in Korea

Original Article

Ann Clin Microbiol 2016;19(4):97-104.

Published online: 12 December 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5145/ACM.2021.19.4.97

Nationwide Survey of Blood Culture Protocol in Clinical Microbiology Laboratories in Korea

Young Ah Kim¹, Dokyun Kim², Dongeun Yong²

^¹Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Health Insurance Service Ilsan Hospital, Goyang

^²Department of Laboratory Medicine and Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea

Correspondence: Dongeun Yong, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Research Institute of Bacterial Resistance, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul 03722, Korea. (Tel) 82-2-2228-2442, (Fax) 82-2-364-1583, (E-mail) deyong@yuhs.ac

Received 26 October 2016 Revised 5 December 2016 Accepted 10 December 2016

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Background

The recovery of bacteria from blood can be affected by many factors. Standardization of blood culture methods is important for reliability. Herein, we aimed to investigate blood culture protocols in Korea.

Methods

We performed a multicenter survey with a questionnaire about blood culture practices, which was sent by email to directors and clinical physicians in charge of clinical microbiology laboratories in May 2014. Total data from 18 participating hospitals were analyzed to be used as current baseline data, which is necessary to optimize blood culture protocols.

Results

Many laboratories included recommended blood volume, which is a major factor for bacteria recovery rate. This varied across participating laboratories. For adults, blood sampling of 10 mL was recommended by 10 laboratories and 20 mL was recommended by 5 laboratories. For children who weighed 14–36 kg and less than 14 kg, blood sampling of 10 mL (n=8) and 5 mL (n=7) was recommended, respectively. For neonates, less than 1 mL was recommended by 12 laboratories.

Conclusion

Substantial variations in blood culture protocols were seen across participating clinical microbiology laboratories. Efforts to standardize this protocol should be undertaken.

Keywords: Blood culture, Procedure, Sepsis, Standardization

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Fig. 1.

The blood culture protocol and procedures in 18 microbiology laboratories in Korea. Abbreviations: QC, quality control; CNS, coagulase-ne-gative staphylococci; PEA, phenylethyl alcohol blood agar; BA, blood agar; AST, antimicrobial susceptibility test; ID, identification; CMBCS, continuous monitoring blood culture system.

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