Sarah Dunbar, Lourie Grijalva, Brittany Matthews,
Megen Price, & Lauren Sapp
Introduction
According to the Joint Commission (2012, p. v), Central Venous Catheters (CVCs) are the most frequent cause of healthcare-associated bloodstream infections, and about 3 million are placed in the United States annually. A central line associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) is an infection in the blood that develops as a result of introducing bacteria into these central lines. “In the United States, from 250,000 to 500,000 CLABSIs are estimated to occur every year, which result in a rate from 10% to 30% of mortality” (Perin, Erdmann, Higashi, & Sasso, 2016). Currently, one third of all hospital acquired …show more content…
There is the possibility that by implementing our standard protocol and a new central line team, miscommunication between the team and the floor nurses could occur. The nurses of Sunnyside are used to maintaining central lines themselves and will no longer need to perform this duty because the CLT--who will have specialized knowledge on the most updated training and protocols--will take over that role. Some nurses might have confusion of their new role of assessing and flushing only when using the port. It is the hope of the quality improvement team that the nurses are accepting of their new role, and will collaborate and communicate well with the members of the CLT. There is also potential for errors in the beginning of implementing this plan, as the CLT will be new to their roles, and adjusting to a new workload with new protocols. Precautions will be taken to minimize these risks as much as possible, with flowsheets listed in patients’ EHRs to help guide the CLT …show more content…
(2012). Preventing central line-associated bloodstream infections: A global challenge, a global perspective. Retrieved from https://www.jointcommission.org/preventing_clabsi/
The Joint Commission. (2016). CLABSI infographic. Retrieved from http://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/6/CLABSI_infographic_final.pdf
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