How long should iodine or iodophor remain on the skin when preparing for blood culture collection?

The correct duration for iodine or iodophor to remain on the skin when preparing for blood culture collection is 60 seconds. This timing is crucial because it allows for adequate antimicrobial action, ensuring that any potential contaminants from the skin surface are effectively eliminated.

The purpose of using iodine or iodophor is to reduce the microbial load dramatically on the skin to minimize the risk of introducing pathogens into the blood culture. The 60 seconds allows the antiseptic to penetrate the skin and exert its antimicrobial effect thoroughly. Insufficient time may not provide adequate disinfection, leading to a higher probability of skin flora contaminating the sample and potentially misleading results. Therefore, thorough skin preparation is essential for obtaining reliable blood culture samples.

The other mentioned timings are either too short, which may not give enough time for effective disinfection, or unnecessarily long, which may not impact the outcome and could delay patient care.