Evidence-based On-call

Infective endocarditis

Investigations

Remember to change the needle before inoculating culture bottles! ^b

Why?

At least 2% of positive blood cultures are the result of contaminants. ^b
Changing needles between drawing blood for culture and inoculating it into bottles reduces contamination rates. ^b

Changing needles reduces blood culture contamination

Patient	Treatment	Comparison	Outcome	CER	RRR (95% CI)	NNT (95% CI)
in hospital or emergency department ^b	changing needles before blood culture inoculation	no needle change	contaminated blood culture	6.9%	?	80 (57 to 130)