Adapting lean management to prevent healthcare-associated infections: a low-cost strategy involving Kamishibai cards to sustain bundles' compliance

Lean healthcare visual management has been successfully integrated into infection control programs, leading to lower healthcare-associated infection (HAI) rates and greater provider compliance with evidence-based prevention practices; however, its implementation during quality improvement (QI) initiatives in limited-resource settings has not yet been well exploited. We aimed to describe a low-cost strategy involving Kamishibai cards to sustain bundles' adherence to prevent HAIs in a middle-income country. This descriptive case study evaluated the implementation of a lean healthcare visual management tool-Kamishibai board (K-board)-during a nationwide QI collaborative preventing three critical HAIs in 189 adult and pediatric/neonatal intensive care units (ICUs) from September 2021 to January 2023. Considering a limited-resource setting, our team adapted a K-board using simple, cheap, and easy-to-handle materials for routine monitoring of QI procedures, including safety bundles' compliance. After test prototypes, the final K-board version was implemented. The chart materials and assembly cost BRL 80.00 (USD 15.48). Before launching, expert working group meetings were held to shape the contents, refine technical issues, and prepare the ICU teams for implementation. After starting, plan-do-study-act cycles were conducted according to the Breakthrough Series model. Participating ICU teams, including leaders and front-line health workers, performed bedside audits following a weekly chronogram. Two indicators were calculated: the percentage of ICUs in which K-boards were being implemented and whether bundles' compliance was addressed in the K-board. Audit data were recorded in 'SimpleQI'. After 17 months of this initiative, 177 (93.7%) participating ICUs had included this visual management tool in their daily care routines. When more than 94 (>50%) ICUs posted K-board data, the mean compliance for the bundles for each HAI was sustained above 85%. A lean healthcare visual management tool can be adapted to local settings, including healthcare facilities with limited resources. K-board seems to be a feasible method for auditing evidence-based practices in medical care, including safety bundles to simultaneously prevent three types of HAIs.