Hospital Reduces Infection Rates Quickly

Evan Sweeney, for HealthLeaders Media, October 9, 2009

University joined a group sponsored by the Consortium, which dictated the time frame to implement change, Duggan says. The hospital organized weekly conference calls with the group that assisted University in educating staff members about the bundle and instituting revamped IC policies quickly and effectively.

"They said if you want to join this group get ready to run," Duggan says. "So we put on our track shoes and ran with them and really implemented change in a very short period for a large institution."

Continuing improvement

Although implementing the IHI bundle and improving staff education helped dramatically reduce infections, the quality team at University Hospital has taken additional steps to make IC compliance even simpler.

The hospital recently integrated an electronic data-mining system that pulls in IC information from the laboratory, the pharmacy, and the units so IPs can easily sift through pertinent data.

The hospital has also invested $250,000 to purchase ultrasound technology to use with central line insertion. This device makes it much easier for the physician to correctly insert the line. Duggan says the hospital wanted to implement this technology with the bundle, but the cost delayed the process so it elected to implement the bundle first, and incorporate the ultrasound later.

"We didn't want to delay the IHI bundle so we implemented that, and now we are going to retrain everyone in the hospital on how to place central lines with ultrasound guidance," Duggan says.

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Evan Sweeney is an editorial assistant at HCPro. He manages and writes for Briefings on Infection Control, a monthly newsletter directed at IC compliance. He also blogs for OSHA Healthcare Advisor, a resource center for infection control and safety professionals, and regularly contributes to Medical Environment Update and OSHA Watch, which focus on healthcare employee safety and health.

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