Blood Culture

How It Is Done

The health professional drawing blood will:

• Wrap an elastic band around your upper arm to stop the flow of blood. This makes the veins below the band larger so it is easier to put a needle into the vein.
• Clean the needle site carefully with alcohol or iodine so skin bacteria will not get in the blood sample.
• Put the needle into the vein. More than one needle stick may be needed.
• Attach a tube to the needle to fill it with blood.
• Remove the band from your arm when enough blood is collected.
• Put a gauze pad or cotton ball over the needle site as the needle is removed.
• Put pressure to the site and then a bandage.

Blood is often collected from two or three different body sites. Or it may be collected at two different times a few hours apart.

Some people may have long-term catheters placed in a major vein because they are receiving chemotherapy or nutrition supplements for weeks or months at a time. For these people, blood for a blood culture will be collected from their catheters for this test.

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Author:	Jan Nissl, RN, BS	Last Updated: February 4, 2007
Medical Review:	Patrice Burgess, MD - Family Medicine Andrew Swan, MD, CCFP, FCFP - Family Medicine Joseph O'Donnell, MD - Hematology/Oncology
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