Caracterización de los procedimientos para la realización de hemocultivos en pacientes adultos, en instituciones hospitalarias del área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá

Objective: To characterize the procedures that are performed for the collection, analysis, reporting and quality assurance of blood cultures in adult patients in hospital institutions. Material and Methods: Descriptive study in 15 hospitals of Medellin and its surroundings. A semi-structured collection instrument was used to collect the information provided by each hospital; SPSS® was used for the analysis. Results: All institutions have protocols based on authorized sources; there were important differences in the pre-analytic and post-analytic processes. The products employed for skin antisepsis were 2-4% chlorhexidine gluconate (66.7%) and 70% isopropyl or ethyl alcohol (20.0%), with discrepancies in product action times. 73.3% use sterile gloves and an equal proportion uses an open system (syringe) for venipuncture. Two aerobic and one anaerobic bottles are taken per episode in adult patients in 46.6% of institutions and only two aerobic bottles in 33.3% of them. Indicators of contamination were used by 66.6 % of institutions, of positivity in 53.3% and of blood volume in 26.6%. The average rate of contaminated blood cultures during the follow-up period was 1.61%. Conclusion: Heterogeneity in the procedures was observed especially in the pre-analytic and post-analytical phases. In the pursuit of excellence and patient safety, standardized protocols and the use of indicators to measure and control the performance of blood cultures are needed.