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Kurin Lock for blood culture collection

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1 Recommendations

1.1 Kurin Lock can be used in the NHS to reduce contamination in blood culture collection in emergency departments with high blood culture contamination rates while more evidence is generated.

Evidence generation

1.2 Evidence should be generated on:

  • the resource impact of blood culture test results, including data on length of hospital stay, antibiotic use, further microbiological investigations and medical interventions

  • staff adherence to blood culture collection methods

  • baseline blood culture contamination rates, and any change in these rates from using Kurin Lock.

Why the committee made these recommendations

Clinical trial evidence suggests that Kurin Lock is a safe and effective way of reducing blood culture contamination rates, compared with standard blood culture collection. It is not clear how it affects other outcomes, like length of hospital stay and antibiotic use, because the clinical trials did not formally record these outcomes.

Kurin Lock costs much more than standard blood culture collection. So, it is more likely that Kurin Lock is cost saving when it is used in emergency departments with high rates of blood culture contamination. The economic modelling is uncertain because of the lack of evidence about how Kurin Lock affects length of hospital stay compared with standard blood culture collection. This means it is uncertain whether Kurin Lock is cost incurring or cost saving.

Evidence generation would help address uncertainties in the clinical and cost-effectiveness evidence. So, Kurin Lock is recommended for use in the NHS while evidence is generated.