September 2023—A casual comment made in a routine exchange in an Avera McKennan Hospital laboratory sparked a five-year campaign to bring down the urine culture contamination rate. “I feel like all I do is report contaminated cultures,” a microbiology technologist said in 2016.
Read More »Weighing the risks in HIV, HCV algorithmic testing
June 2023—For HIV and HCV algorithmic testing, the workflow options have risks to consider. Molecular testing performed as an automatic reflex on the same sample used for the serologic testing risks carryover contamination, and requiring a dedicated sample for the molecular assay risks incomplete testing.
Read More »Platelet transfusions: safety, cost, and workflow
October 2022—The jury may no longer be out on whether pathogen reduction of platelet units reduces the risk of a septic transfusion reaction enough to replace culturing of platelet units.
Read More »With diversion, lower blood culture contamination rates
July 2017—To stage magicians, diversion is a trick—a way to direct the audience’s attention to something irrelevant so they don’t notice what they shouldn’t see. To those who perform blood cultures, diversion is also a trick, though there’s nothing deceptive about it—and the way it helps avoid contamination can seem like magic.
Read More »