Monday January 8, 2007
Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections in the ICU


December 28, 2006 edition of The New England Journal of Medicine has published a very important article from Dr. Peter Pronovost and coll. regarding Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections in the ICU. It is an impressive study of 375,757 catheter-days ! Five interventions were planned:

• hand washing,
• using full-barrier precautions during the insertion of central venous catheters,
• cleaning the skin with chlorhexidine,
• avoiding the femoral site if possible, and
• removing unnecessary catheters

(read article to see application of methodology)

The overall median rate of catheter-related bloodstream infection decreased from 2.7 infections per 1000 catheter-days at baseline to 0 at 3 months including teaching, nonteaching, small and large hospitals.


Related site: Complete central line prevention guide ( ihi.org )


Related Previous Pearls: How to calculate Central line catheter-related bloodstream infections



Reference: click to see abstract

An Intervention to Decrease Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections in the ICU - Volume 355:2725-2732, Number 26 , Dec. 28, 2006 - The New England Journal of Medicine