Infection prevention practices vary among hospitals within St. Louis-based Ascension Health, according to a study in the American Journal of Infection Control.
A survey of each infection preventionist at 71 Ascension Health hospitals revealed relatively consistent policies for infection prevention across hospitals. For example, 78.6 percent of hospitals had policies for urinary catheter placement and maintenance, 95.8 percent had policies for central venous catheter maintenance and 93.9 percent had policies for mechanically ventilated patients.
There was greater variation in practices and evaluation of competencies and outcomes, according to the study. For instance, 77.5 percent of hospitals use a nurse-driven evaluation of urinary catheter need and 36.6 percent have a team evaluation for central venous catheters when patients transfer out of intensive care.
In addition, only 26.8 percent of hospitals have annual nursing competencies for urinary catheter placement and maintenance, 40.8 percent for nursing venous catheter maintenance and 57.6 percent for appropriate surgical scrubbing. One exception to this practice variation is assessments of daily ventilator support for continued need, which is practiced by 93 percent of hospitals.
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