Hospitals will quickly slash the rate of common, costly and potentially lethal catheter-related bloodstream infections in their intensive care units (ICUs) by using cheap, low-tech, common-sense measures like hand washing, timely removal of unneeded catheters, and use of sites other than the groin to place lines when possible, according to a report from safety experts at Johns Hopkins in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"There's just no reason any more not to do these relatively simple things," says Peter Pronovost, M.D., professor of medicine and medical director of Hopkins' Center for Innovation in Quality Patient Care, who led researchers in their review of 103 Michigan ICUs, before, during and after implementing a variety of measures designed to reduce such infections.
"A common misperception among hospital-based clinicians is that it often costs much too much money and time to significantly improve patient safety," says Pronovost. "Our data destroys this myth by showing that profound improvements can be made with minimum cost and effort, as long as clinical teams are committed to improving safety and willing to diligently observe relatively simple safety measures."
Nationwide, an estimated 80,000 bloodstream infections occur each year as a result of central venous catheters, which are tubes inserted through a blood vessel that ends near or in the heart to deliver treatments and monitor care. Bloodstream infections are involved in up to 28,000 deaths in the United States alone among these ICU patients. Economically, the toll is enormous, Pronovost says, with an average cost to the health care system of $45,000 per patient for treatment and billions each year nationwide, "far more than it costs to implement steps to prevent the infections in the first place."