Falls Church, Va.-based Inova L.J. Murphy Children's Hospital eliminated central line-associated bloodstream infections among its patients for 300 days during 2021 and 2022.
After comparing their CLABSI ratings to other pediatric hospitals, team leaders saw a need for improvement, according to a June 28 news release from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control.
Infection preventionist Becky Lapian and Quality Director Allison Barberio gathered a team of front-line nurses and techs, environment personnel, physicians, neonatologists, and emergency department staff to work on prevention. They met regularly to find opportunities to improve environmental cleaning, line access and auditing practices.
"We realized that to truly drive down infections and sustain our progress, we had to look beyond basic practices and engage a diverse team in process improvement," Ms. Lapian said in the release. "Our success is truly owned by every member of the team."
They saw an 80 percent drop in Standardized Infection Ratio after implementing the following tactics:
- Focus on central line removal and proper line maintenance
- Daily device rounding by the multidisciplinary team
- Improved patient education
- Hand hygiene by bedside nurses
These measures resulted in over 300 days without a CLABSI with more than 10,000 days that patients had a central line in the hospital.