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I have heard of the push-pull method of obtaining blood for lab, but I can't imagine why anyone would use this method to obtain blood cultures.  Generally, the push pull method involves attaching a syringe to the injection port, withdrawing 10 cc, then pushing the 10 cc of blood back in, aspirating another 10 cc blood, pushing that back in, aspirating another 10 cc of blood, pushing that back in, then drawing your blood for specimen.  This method is no longer routinely recommended due to infection control concerns, and was most often useful for oncology patients who had low counts, as there was no waste of blood.   I can't imagine anyone in infection control wanting us to use this method.

Never heard of this technique applied to drawing blood cultures. This push-pull method or mixing method is used for drawing other blood samples though. Attach a saline filled syringe and flush the catheter. Leave syringe attached, and draw 6-8 mL of blood into syringe then reinject it back into catheter. Do this a total of 4 times without disconnecting the syringe. Then disconnect, attach an empty, sterile syringe and obtain the sample. Flush the catheter as indicated. The benefit of this method is that there is no discarded volume of blood which can, over time, lead to nosocomial blood loss and iatrogenic anemia. Lynn