Abstract: Objective: To explore the effects of the nurse-led multi-department management on the quality of blood culture specimens to provide reference for clinical nursing practice and quality improvement. Methods: A nurse-led multi-department management team was established to carry out quality improvement. The blood culture sample inspection rate, qualification rate, contamination rate, and the changes of nursing staff?'s knowledge and practice of blood culture before and after the implementation of the measures were compared. Results: The blood culture submission rate and the qualified rate of May and June 2023 were 19.1% and 61.3%, respectively, which were higher than 4.7% and 35.6% in 2022, with statistical significance (P<0.05). The pollution rate in 2023 and 2022 was 2.9% and 3.8%, respectively, showing a decreasing trend. The scores of nurses' knowledge and behavior related to blood culture in 2023 were 12.69±2.81, 5.89±0.44 and 36.73±3.40, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in 2018 (7.89±2.79, 5.82±0.52, 30.81±4.35), with statistical significance (P<0.05). Conclusion: The quality improvement strategy carried out by the nurse-led multi-department management can improve the rate of blood culture submission and qualification, reduce blood culture contamination, improve nurses' knowledge and practice, demonstrating the significant roles of nursing staff in the prevention and control of hospital infection.

Key words: blood culture; multi-department collaboration; nursing management; hospital infection and control