Blood culture collection practices in NICU; A national survey.

Background: Sepsis is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in neonates. Blood cultures are the gold standard in diagnosing neonatal sepsis; however, there are currently no consensus guidelines for blood culture collection in neonates and significant practice variation exists in Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs) globally.

Objective: To examine current practices in obtaining blood cultures in the evaluation of neonatal sepsis in NICUs across Canada.

Methods: A nine-item electronic survey was sent to each of the 29 level-3 NICUs in Canada, which are equipped to provide highly specialized care for newborns.

Results: Responses were received from 90% (26/29) of sites. Sixty-five percent (17/26) of sites have blood culture collection guidelines for the investigation of neonatal sepsis. Forty-eight percent (12/25) of sites routinely target 1.0 mL per culture bottle. In late-onset sepsis (LOS), 58% (15/26) of sites process one aerobic culture bottle, whereas four sites routinely add anaerobic culture bottles. In early-onset sepsis (EOS) in very low birth weight infants (BW <1.5 kg), 73% (19/26) of sites use umbilical cord blood, and 72% (18/25) use peripheral venipuncture. Two sites routinely collect cord blood for culture in EOS. Only one site applies the concept of differential time-to-positivity to diagnose central-line-associated bloodstream infection.

Conclusions: There is significant practice variation in methods used to obtain blood cultures in level-3 NICUs across Canada. Standardization of blood culture collection practices can provide reliable estimates of the true incidence of neonatal sepsis and help to develop appropriate antimicrobial stewardship strategies.