Use of bundled interventions, including a checklist to promote compliance with aseptic technique, to reduce catheter-related bloodstream infections in the intensive care unit

Care bundles and peripheral arterial catheters

HIGHLIGHTS

What we know about the topic: Recommendations for the use of vascular access care bundles to reduce infection are followed for different devices. The risk of arterial catheter-related infection is comparable with short-term, non-cuffed central venous catheters. There are practice concerns for clinicians inserting and caring for peripheral arterial catheters. What this paper adds: The selected studies had a theme of decreased infection after using bundled strategies for all devices. Few studies addressed use of bundles for care of peripheral arterial catheters. High-quality research should be performed about using care bundles for insertion and care of arterial catheters.

INTRODUCTION

A scoping review of the literature was performed.

AIMS/OBJECTIVES

To find information on the use of care bundles for care of arterial, central, and peripherally inserted venous catheters.

METHODS

Data was extracted by 2 independent researchers using standardized methodology.

RESULTS

Results of 84 studies included 2 (2.4%) randomized controlled trials, 38 (45.2%) observational studies, 29 (34.5%) quality projects, and 15 (17.9%) reviews. Populations had more adults than pediatric patients. All studies had the most prominent theme of decreased infection in all devices after using bundle strategies.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

The mapping of available evidence strongly supports the use of care bundles to reduce infection in the care of all intravascular devices. However, deficiencies regarding practice concerns about insertion and care of arterial catheters highlight areas for future research with the aim to eliminate the gap in the evidence of studies of care bundles for peripheral arterial catheters.

Implementation Strategies for Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections across the Surgical Pathway: An Italian Multisociety Document

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) result in significant patient morbidity and can prolong the duration of the hospital stay, causing high supplementary costs in addition to those already sustained due to the patient’s underlying disease. Moreover, bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to antibiotics, making HAI prevention even more important nowadays. The public health consequences of antimicrobial resistance should be constrained by prevention and control actions, which must be a priority for all health systems of the world at all levels of care. As many HAIs are preventable, they may be considered an important indicator of the quality of patient care and represent an important patient safety issue in healthcare. To share implementation strategies for preventing HAIs in the surgical setting and in all healthcare facilities, an Italian multi-society document was published online in November 2022. This article represents an evidence-based summary of the document.

Reaching One Peripheral Intravenous Catheter (PIVC) Per Patient Visit With Lean Multimodal Strategy: the PIV5Rights™ Bundle

Highlights

Lean leadership for process improvement. Prospective comparator multimodal design study. Vascular access specialty team (VAST group 2) versus generalist nursing model (group 1). First stick success of 96%. Statistically significant improvement in dwell time with VAST versus generalist nursing model (89% versus 15% lasting until end of therapy). Projected 2.9 million in savings annually. Peripheral intravenous catheter team centralized proposal to Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) with acceptance based on outcomes. Reduction in cost per bed per year using a vascular access specialty team of $3376.

Abstract

Background: Peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) sales per year exceed that of the number of people in the United States (US), 350 million. With only 37 million US hospital patient admissions per year, these data indicate an average usage of 10 PIVCs per patient admission, suggesting a very high failure, very low success rate, and excess cost associated with PIVC insertions. Patients often complain of multiple catheter insertion attempts, and published data reveal up to 53% of PIVCs fail before therapy ends.

Methods: Hartford Hospital (Hartford, CT) conducted a prospective comparator single-center clinical superiority design study to determine the impact of bundled practices including device insertions using vascular access specialty team (VAST) intravenous trained nurses versus current practice. The study used a 5 step multimodal best practice intervention strategy designated as the PIV5Rights Bundle with an aim to determine if the intervention outcomes and dwell time improved over current PIVC practices. The study group applied a Lean health care standard work process with a Six Sigma design, define, measure, analyze, improve, control approach that included VAST PIVC dwell time, complications, and economic impact compared with current state general nursing practice.

Results: Outcomes of the PIV5Rights Bundle in Group 2 (experimental) using a trained vascular access nursing team for insertion and management achieved a statistically significant result of 89% of catheters achieving end of therapy with a cost saving per bed of $3376 ($1405 versus $4781) per year as compared to standard practice (Group 1; control). Results of Group 1 reflected PIVC dwell time to end of treatment in only 15% of catheters. Prestudy catheter consumption analysis was 4.4 catheters per patient hospital admissions, reflecting waste within labor and supply costs for PIVC insertion and usage. Peripheral intravenous catheter retrospective audits for current practice demonstrated more than 50% catheters failed within the first 24 hours. This application of Lean methodology by Hartford Hospital with infusion therapy resulted in a projected $2.9 million annual savings of $3376 per bed per year for house-wide application.

Conclusions: Implementation of the PIV5Rights™ Bundle with a dedicated VAST proved to be a successful model, both from a patient and financial perspective. The journey to nursing excellence included identification of core measures and best practice evidence for PIVC placements as a procedure that affects nearly every patient entering a hospital. By centralizing ownership of vascular access with the team for insertion, management, and securement, the PIV Five Rights is the right approach to achieve the right results in transformation of hospital infusion therapy practices. Bundled approaches have often been used for central catheter infection reduction. This is the first study the authors have identified focusing on 1 PIVC per patient visit as a result of an evidence-based bundle and VAST.

Impact of a Daily PICU Rounding Checklist on Urinary Catheter Utilization and Infection

INTRODUCTION

In critically ill children, inappropriate urinary catheter (UC) utilization is associated with increased morbidity, including catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). Checklists are effective for reducing medical errors, but there is little data on their impact on device utilization in pediatric critical care. In this study, we evaluated UC utilization trends and CAUTI rate after implementing a daily rounding checklist.

METHODS

A retrospective review of our checklist database from 2006 through 2016 was performed. The study setting was a 36-bed pediatric intensive care unit in a quaternary-care pediatric hospital. Interventions included the "Daily QI Checklist" in 2006, ongoing education regarding device necessity, and a CAUTI prevention bundle in 2013. UC utilization and duration were assessed via auto-correlated time series models and Cochran-Armitage tests for trend. Changes in CAUTI rate were assessed via Poisson regression.

RESULTS

UC utilization decreased from 30% of patient-days in 2006 to 18% in 2016 (P < 0.0001, Cochran-Armitage trend test), while duration of UC use (median, 2.0 days; interquartile range, 1-4) did not change over time (P = 0.18). CAUTI rate declined from 9.49/1,000 UC-days in 2009 to 1.04 in 2016 (P = 0.0047).

CONCLUSIONS

Implementation of the checklist coincided with a sustained 40% reduction in UC utilization. The trend may be explained by a combination of more appropriate selection of patients for catheterization and improved timeliness of UC discontinuation. We also observed an 89% decline in CAUTI rate that occurred after stabilization of UC utilization. These findings underscore the potential impact of a checklist on incorporating best practices into daily care of critically ill children.

Outcome prediction in gastroschisis - The gastroschisis prognostic score (GPS) revisited

PURPOSE

The GPS enables risk stratification for gastroschisis and helps discriminate low from high morbidity groups. The purpose of this study was to revalidate GPS's characterization of a high morbidity group and to quantify relationships between the GPS and outcomes.

METHODS

With REB approval, complete survivor data from a national gastroschisis registry was collected. GPS bowel injury scoring was revalidated excluding the initial inception/validation cohorts (>2011). Length of stay (LOS), 1st enteral feed days (dFPO), TPN days (dTPN), and aggregate complications (COMP) were compared between low and high morbidity risk groups. Mathematical relationships between outcomes and integer increases in GPS were explored using the entire cohort (2005-present).

RESULTS

Median (range) LOS, dPO, and dTPN for the entire cohort (n=849) was 36 (26,62), 13 (9,18), and 27 (20,46) days, respectively. High-risk patients (GPS≥2; n=80) experienced significantly worse outcomes than low risk patients (n=263). Each integer increase in GPS was associated with increases in LOS and dTPN by 16.9 and 12.7days, respectively (p<0.01). COMP rate was also increased in the high-risk cohort (46.3% vs. 22.8%; p<0.01).

CONCLUSION

The GPS effectively discriminates low from high morbidity risk groups. Within the high risk group, integer increases in GPS produce quantitatively differentiated outcomes which may guide initial counseling and resource allocation.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

IIb.

Recommendations for surgical safety checklist use in Canadian children's hospitals

BACKGROUND

There is ample evidence that avoidable harm occurs in patients, including children, who undergo surgical procedures. Among a number of harm mitigation strategies, the use of surgical safety checklists (SSC) is now a required organizational practice for accreditation in all North American hospitals. Although much has been written about the effects of SSC on outcomes of adult surgical patients, there is a paucity of literature on the use and role of the SSC as an enabler of safe surgery for children.

METHODS

The Pediatric Surgical Chiefs of Canada (PSCC) advocates on behalf of all Canadian children undergoing surgical procedures. We undertook a survey of the use of SSC in Canadian children's hospitals to understand the variability of implementation of the SSC and understand its role as both a measure and driver of patient safety and to make specific recommendations (based on survey results and evidence) for standardized use of the SSC in Canadian children's hospitals.

RESULTS

Survey responses were received from all 15 children's hospitals and demonstrated significant variability in how the checklist is executed, how compliance is measured and reported, and whether or not use of the checklist resulted in specific instances of error prevention over a 12-month observation period. There was near unanimous agreement that use of the SSC contributed positively to the safety culture of the operating room.

CONCLUSION

Based on the survey results, the PSCC have made 5 recommendations regarding the use of the SSC in Canadian children's hospitals.

Set of Quality Indicators of Pediatric Intensive Care in Spain: Delphi Method Selection

INTRODUCTION

This study objective was to identify, select, and define a basic set of quality indicators for pediatric intensive care in Spain.

METHODS

(1) Review of the literature to identify quality indicators and their defining elements and (2) selection of indicators by consensus of a group of experts using basic Delphi methodology (2 rounds) and forms distributed by email among experts from the Spanish society of pediatric intensive care.

RESULTS

We selected quality indicators according to their relevance and feasibility and the experts' agreement on their incorporation in the final set. We included only those indicators whose assessment was within the highest tertile and greater than or equal to 70% evaluator agreement in the final selection. Starting from an initially proposed set of 136 indicators, 31 experts first selected 43 indicators for inclusion in the second round. Twenty indicators were selected for the final set. This "top 20" set comprised 9 process indicators, 9 of results (especially treatment-associated adverse effects), and 2 indicators of structure. Several of them are classical indicators in intensive care medicine (rates of hospital-acquired infections, pressure ulcers, etc.), whereas others are specifically pediatric (eg, unrestricted parent visitation or training the parents of technology-dependent children).

CONCLUSIONS

We reached a consensus on a set of 20 essential quality indicators for pediatric intensive care in Spain. A significant subset reflects the peculiarities of pediatric care. We consider this subset as a starting point for future projects of network collaboration between pediatric intensive care units in Spain.

Needleless connectors: the vascular access catheter's microbial gatekeeper

Needleless connectors (NCs) are essential devices which connect to the end of vascular catheters and enable catheter access for infusion and aspiration. There are various different designs which make it difficult for purchasers to identify the features which present the least risk and greatest safety. The NC is the microbial gatekeeper for vascular catheters; how it is disinfected pre access determines if, and how many, organisms enter and how quickly biofilm will form. This paper will consider these design variations and how differences in antiseptic testing methods have made it difficult to determine the best antiseptic practice pre access. One specific design characteristic is considered: the fluid pathway. The NC's fluid pathway creates a flow which can be either direct to produce a laminar flow or indirect which creates a turbulent flow. At present, the evidence does not support there being an advantage for a specific fluid pathway design in reducing infection risks.

A novel approach to leveraging electronic health record data to enhance pediatric surgical quality improvement bundle process compliance

PURPOSE

Quality improvement (QI) bundles have been widely adopted to reduce surgical site infections (SSI). Improvement science suggests when organizations achieve high-reliability to QI processes, outcomes dramatically improve. However, measuring QI process compliance is poorly supported by electronic health record (EHR) systems. We developed a custom EHR tool to facilitate capture of process data for SSI prevention with the aim of increasing bundle compliance and reducing adverse events.

METHODS

Ten SSI prevention bundle processes were linked to EHR data elements that were then aggregated into a snapshot display superimposed on weekly case-log reports. The data aggregation and user interface facilitated efficient review of all SSI bundle elements, providing an exact bundle compliance rate without random sampling or chart review.

RESULTS

Nine months after implementation of our custom EHR tool, we observed centerline shifts in median SSI bundle compliance (46% to 72%). Additionally, as predicted by high reliability principles, we began to see a trend toward improvement in SSI rates (1.68 to 0.87 per 100 operations), but a discrete centerline shift was not detected.

CONCLUSION

Simple informatics solutions can facilitate extraction of QI process data from the EHR without relying on adjunctive systems. Analyses of these data may drive reductions in adverse events. Pediatric surgical departments should consider leveraging the EHR to enhance bundle compliance as they implement QI strategies.