cultures of blood bags

[Kwenz]

How do you obtain the sample to culture a blood bag after a transfusion reaction? Do you enter via the unused port, stick a needle right into the bag or do you have a better technique. Also, do you culture from the tubing in addition to from the bag and do you culture the saline bag that comes down with the unit? Do you just add to broth and then subculture or do you acutally set up blood culture bottles? If you have almost no sample to work with, how do you prioritze? We have 6 hospitals in our system and it seems that we all do it differently.

[Karen Olsen]

We culture via the unused port if available and set up blood culture bottles. If there is no blood left in the bag to draw out whatever we can from where-ever. Usually the tubing.

[Mabel Adams]

And what do you all do regarding the blood bank reference books' recommendation that the cultures from units be incubated at various temperatures when your microbiologists look at you like you're nuts because they know all the bugs (even Yersinia) will grow in their usual blood culture system? Or have they updated the BB books since I last checked?

[MEVANS]

We culture from the remaining port as well, and we try to use blood culture bottles if there is enough blood left but if not we use thio broth for 5 days and then sub for two days.

[rcurrie]

Our procedure calls for culturing the saline only if it appears cloudy. If no blood remains in the bag, we add some saline to the bag (there is always remaining saline), swirl, and then access through the remaining port.

BC

[Eagle Eye]

Our micro department use syringe and take out blood from the bag. They inoculate 3 bottles- anerobic, aerobic & RT.