positive cultures-what's your system?

[erjulie]

We're having a lot of trouble keeping up with +culture callbacks. Currently, all cultures are routed back to the ED via printer from the lab as they become positive, and the secretary pulls the chart for the + results and places it in the "culture book" for the charge nurse to check. Well, we are currently overwhelmed and under-staffed, and cultures are missed because we're busy and things slip. No bad outcomes so far, but it's a recurring nightmare! Lab states they can't run a "culture report" because they don't have time ( a computer generated list once a day of all + cultures) for double checking, and who could actually double check? We really rarely have time to sit down and concentrate on the culture book, and the case manager has volunteered (she's an RN) but her boss has a "territory" problem with that. What do other departments do? It seems that no one takes this seriously except staff and our manager, so I'm trying to see what other departments do about this so that we can be systematic and thorough. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

[Pedi-ER-RN, RN]

At my facility it is the MD/NP's responsibility to call pts with positive culture results.

[thumperRN]

The lab notifies the floor when the cultures are positive, it is then the nurse's responsibility to let the doc know.