NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull has won a national quality award for its work to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections, the hospital said June 14.
The New York City-based hospital received the 2024 IPRO Quality Award for reducing reliance on catheters and going six consecutive quarters without any CLABSI cases.
A team led by infection preventionists first conducted a daily prevention bundle compliance audit and reviewed healthcare-associated infection cases to identify areas of improvement. Insights were shared monthly with the hospital's infection control and nursing performance improvement committees. Interdisciplinary teams also conducted daily rounding on all medical, surgical and critical care units to review the clinical necessity of central line or urinary catheters, identify opportunities for alternatives and prompt removal when appropriate.
Hospital leaders said the interventions improved team communication and collaboration, reduced the use of central line and urinary catheters and consequently lowered CLABSI rates.
"Effectively preventing and controlling HAIs requires an interdisciplinary team working in a collaborative manner," Dilcia Ortega, RN, MSN, director of infection prevention at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, said in a news release. "Our team proved that evidence-based interventions are effective in preventing healthcare-associated infections, promoting high quality patient care and reducing hospital costs."
The hospital was one of 26 organizations to receive the 2024 IPRO Quality Award. See the full list of recipients here.