Background: A safety device is recommended to improve the safety and performance of blood culture practice. BD vacutainer^Ⓡ Safety-Lok^TM blood collection sets with pre-attached holder (Safety-Lok) were evaluated in the emergency room (ER) of a tertiary care hospital. Methods: Interns and nurses in the ER were surveyed regarding blood culture practices with a questionnaire before and after 2 or 3 weeks of experience with using Safety-Lok from April to June 2017. All participants underwent a 1-h exercise workshop combined with video education before the initial survey. The blood volume, positivity, and contamination rates of Safety-Lok-drawn (SD) blood cultures were compared to those of the overall blood cultures. Results: A total of 18 interns and 30 nurses were enrolled. The result of the initial survey showed that interns had higher rates of needle stick incidence (27.8%), higher rates of carriage of blood-filled syringe with needle (88.9%), and lower rates of Vacutainer^Ⓡ one-use holder (BD, USA) use (38.9%) than nurses had (13.3%, 53.3%, and 60.0%, respectively). Compared with nurses (40.0%), interns preferred to use safety devices (88.9%). The number of overall blood cultures and SD blood cultures were 9,053 and 555, respectively, during the study period. The overall blood volume collected in aerobic bottles was 2.6±2.1 mL, and the SD blood volumes collected in aerobic and anaerobic bottles were 5.0±3.0 mL and 6.0±3.0 mL, respectively. Positive and contamination rates were 6.5% and 0.72% with SD blood cultures and 6.2% and 0.3% with overall blood cultures, respectively. Conclusion: The introduction of the safety device would encourage healthcare workers to collect adequate blood volume and would lead to safer practices in the ER.

Keywords: Blood culture, Needlestick, Safety device, Volume