Magnolia Medical and The Center for Phlebotomy Education Expand Continuing Education Program

Blood Culture Collection and Contamination Prevention Best Practices Course Adds PACE Accreditation

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May 15, 2019, 07:00 ET

SEATTLE, May 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Magnolia Medical Technologies and The Center for Phlebotomy Education announced the expansion of their training and education partnership dedicated to the prevention of blood culture contamination.

The web-based continuing education course "Preventing Blood Culture Contamination with a Closed-System Mechanical Initial Specimen Diversion Device^® (ISDD^®)" is now available with Professional Acknowledgement for Continuing Education (PACE) credits. Sponsored by the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science, PACE credits fulfill continuing education requirement for state and regional laboratory regulation boards.

The course, already available for continuing education units (CEU), now provides phlebotomists and laboratory personnel with the latest evidence-based best practices for preventing blood culture contamination. The course also analyzes the impact of sepsis misdiagnosis on unnecessary antibiotic treatment and the downstream impacts on patient safety as well as hospital costs. Each participant will earn one PACE credit hour toward their annual training and education requirements.

"We are excited to extend this important educational course addressing one of the biggest problems plaguing our healthcare system today to the laboratory audience," said Dennis Ernst, MT(ASCP), NCPT(NCCT), founding director of The Center for Phlebotomy Education. "This training and education program illustrates the clinical and economic impacts of Steripath Gen2 ISDD, empowering laboratory personnel and phlebotomists to address a problem they may have thought could not be solved," said Ernst.

Each year, tens of millions of patients in the U.S. require a blood culture test, considered the 'gold standard' for diagnosis of sepsis and other bloodstream infections. However, the current industry accepted 3% contamination benchmark in the U.S. means that nearly half of all the positive blood cultures are actually false-positive because of contamination. This is unacceptable for diagnosing the number one cause of death and readmissions in U.S. hospitals.

The Steripath Gen2 ISDD is a vein-to-bottle closed-system device that diverts and isolates the initial 1.5 to 2.0 mL of blood, the portion to contain contaminants, then automatically opens a second pathway to capture the specimen. Five peer-reviewed studies support the clinical and cost-effectiveness of Steripath reporting reduction of blood culture contamination by as much as 92% with 12-month rates as low as 0.2% in the Emergency Department.

"At Magnolia, we are committed to partnering with hospitals across the nation to solve the preventable error of blood culture contamination that can lead to the false positive diagnosis of sepsis," said Greg Bullington, CEO of Magnolia Medical. "Steripath coupled with phlebotomy best practices is a winning combination to achieve our mission. We are delighted to partner with Dennis Ernst and The Center for Phlebotomy Education to bring this engaging and important PACE-accredited program to our customers," said Bullington.

About Magnolia Medical Technologies
Magnolia Medical is a medical device company that develops, manufactures and markets innovative blood and bodily fluid collection devices to facilitate significant improvements in the accuracy, consistency and predictability of critical in vitro diagnostic (IVD) laboratory tests. Magnolia Medical invented and patented the initial specimen diversion technique (ISDT^™) and device (ISDD^®) for blood culture collection and contamination prevention. The Steripath ISDD has been shown in peer-reviewed publications to reduce blood culture contamination — helping healthcare providers decrease false-positive diagnostic results for sepsis and the resulting unnecessary and inappropriate antibiotic use. This reduces the risk of Clostridium difficile infections, multi-drug-resistant organisms and other antibiotic-related complications, hospital length of stay, associated healthcare-acquired infections and hospital-wide costs. The company has amassed an intellectual property portfolio protecting its technology and products, including more than 60 issued method, apparatus and design patents with more than 50 additional patent applications pending. For more information, visit www.magnolia-medical.com.

SOURCE Magnolia Medical Technologies