Overview
Blood cultures (BCs) are a diagnostic test for the presence of bacteria in the blood. Two challenges with BC specimen collection are contamination and the underfilling of the collection bottles, resulting in unusable samples. Many patients requiring a BC also have a peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC), however, it is generally recommended that PIVCs are not used for blood sampling. This means that patients receive multiple, painful venepunctures for both PIVC insertion and blood sampling. Specialised needle-free blood collection devices may enable drawing of adequate volumes of blood from PIVCs at any time without haemolysis or contamination and increase patient comfort by reducing venepunctures.
The PIVO™ Pro Needle-free Blood Collection Device (Becton, Dickinson and Company; Franklin Lakes) has been available for around a decade and involves advancing a flexible internal flow tube through the patient’s PIVC to access a fresh blood sample beyond the PIVC tip. This 2-arm, adaptive group, sequential randomised controlled trial aims to compare the efficacy of PIVO Pro on initial PIVC insertion for reducing contaminated blood cultures to standard care for BC draw. The trial has the potential to inform BC practice and international guidelines.
Investigators
Professor Claire Rickard, Dr Josephine Lovegrove, Daner Ball, Dr Patrick Harris, Professor Andrew Martin, Jonathan Vico Da Silva, Dr Karen Furlong, Dr Jason Chan, Professor Gerben Keijzers
Project Manager:
Andrea Valks
Partner Organisations:
The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Queensland Health, Herston Infectious Diseases Institute
Sites
Three emergency departments across Gold Coast University Hospital, Caboolture Hospital and Redcliffe Hospital
Funding
The trial is funded by an investigator-initiated grant from Becton, Dickinson and Company, and a competitive grant from the Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health. BD will provide the PIVO Pro and PIVO Compatible Velano Vascular Stabilized Extension Sets as consumables for trial use.
Any questions: please email pivo@uq.edu.au
