Categories: BSIs, CLABSI, Hemodialysis, NHSN, Outpatient Care
July 21st, 2010 10:00 am ET -
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Central Line Catheter
- Alex Kallen, MD, MPH
Medical Epidemiologist
CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
You’ve probably seen some of the recent scientific and general news articles about bloodstream infections associated with central line and other catheters. Rates of central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), barriers to prevention, mandated state and possible federal reporting of these infections and so on – the attention is important, as CLABSIs are a significant healthcare issue.
The Michigan Keystone Project and the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative have clearly shown that CLABSIs are preventable (at least in intensive care units [ICUs]), and have helped to fuel the rapid expansion of CLABSI prevention efforts around the country. These efforts include use of CLABSI prevention “bundles,” which primarily target central line insertion practices. In addition, many of these efforts promote an enhanced “culture of safety” that helps change the way healthcare personnel think about the preventability of these infections.
These efforts have resulted in significant decreases in CLABSIs in the ICU, as shown by Deron Burton and colleagues who evaluated ICU CLABSIs reported to CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) from 1997 to 2007.
But what is happening outside the ICU?
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Categories: BSIs, CLABSI, Healthcare-associated infections
July 19th, 2010 2:10 pm ET -
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Cathryn Louise Murphy, RN, PhD, CIC
Guest Author -Cathryn Louise Murphy, RN, PhD, CIC
2010 President – Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology
Managing Director – Infection Control Plus
Associate Professor – Faculty of Health Services and Medicine, Bond University
“I believe in zero CLABSIs!” shouted a group of 3,400 APIC Annual Conference attendees at the conclusion of patient-safety leader Dr. Peter Pronovost’s opening session on Monday, July 11. Is the idea of zero central-line associated bloodstream infections a far-fetched dream, or a vision that can become reality for healthcare institutions around the world in the not-so-distant future?
In a new and exciting campaign, APIC has teamed with Dr. Peter Pronovost to mobilize infection preventionists to prove that prevention is possible.
Catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) and central-line associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) carry high mortality and high cost, leading to more than 30,000 deaths in the U.S. each year and driving up the cost of care by more than $30,000 per patient. This is an even greater problem in developing countries, where the rates of HAIs related to devices are in most cases 3 to 5 times greater than in developed countries.
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Categories: ARRA, CLABSI, Healthcare-associated infections, NHSN, State HAI Prevention
May 27th, 2010 2:24 pm ET -
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Dr. Scott Fridkin
CDC’s Dr. Scott Fridkin
Deputy Chief of DHQP’s Surveillance Branch
Author of Today’s State-Specific Healthcare-Associated Infections Report
As you may know, CDC captures and regularly releases national healthcare-associated infection (HAI) data through our National Healthcare Safety Network, a system that monitors infections at 2,800-plus healthcare facilities across the nation. Most recently, though, the NHSN team has been working to analyze and report HAI data at the state level, and some of our work was released today in a report called the First State-Specific Healthcare-Associated Infections Summary Data Report.
This report includes national HAI data from states with mandates to publicly report central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and represents the first time CDC has released state-specific data. It’s also the first time we’ve used a measure called the standardized infection ratio (SIR) to summarize state or national data. Nationally, we saw an 18 percent decrease in CLABSIs. State results were encouraging as well, with most states showing lower than expected SIRs.
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