Relationship between blood culture collection method and proportion of contaminated cultures in neonates

Aim: This study aims to document methods of blood culture collection used in our neonatal unit and to determine whether or not the proportion of contaminated cultures varied according to method of collection. Two specific comparisons of interest were the proportion of contaminated cultures in samples collected via (i) preferred versus non-preferred methods, and (ii) peripheral cannulae at the time of insertion versus separate arterial or venous puncture