Children's Hospital Association: Marking a Milestone, A Year Without a Central Line Infection
Rounding, improved hygiene and reducing the use of central lines helped Children's Mercy Kansas City go nearly a year without a central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) in its neonatal intensive care unit.
CLABSIs cause significant harm for patients of any age but pose a particular danger to NICU babies. Infections among this vulnerable population impact health outcomes and lengths of stay.
In early 2022, leaders at Children’s Mercy noted an increase in the frequency of CLABSIs in its NICU. Infection rates peaked at 3.88 per 1,000 line days in March.
“Our internal NICU goal is always zero CLABSIs,” says Annie Craig, MSN, RN, RNC-NIC, the hospital’s senior director of neonatal and perinatal services. “When we started to notice these upticks, we decided to address them as an interdisciplinary leadership team.”
Read the full article via the Children's Hospital Association