Solutions for Hospital Acquired Infections

The United States health care system made a significant shift from fee for service to pay for performance. Evidence-based decision making requires the health care provider to consider the individual patient’s clinical circumstances and the state of the science to select the best choice. Evidence-based decision making for preventing hospital acquired infections and injury is complex and requires ongoing assessment of the state of the science and available evidence.These tools are designed to support your efforts to implement evidence-based practices and reduce HAI’s such as:

Central-Line Associated Bloodstream Infection

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) result in thousands of deaths each year and billions of dollars in added costs to the U.S. healthcare system. The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) defines an incidence of CLABSI as:

“A laboratory confirmed bloodstream infection (LCBI) where an eligible bloodstream infection organism is identified and an eligible central line is present on the LCBI day of event or the day before.”¹

Hospitals have a tremendous focus on reducing or preventing CLABSIs. Care and maintenance of vascular access device sites is a vital component in this prevention strategy.

An often overlooked hospital acquired condition (HAC) is medical-adhesive related skin injury (MARSI). Its prevention should be a priority for every instituion. MARSI is defined as follows:

“A medical adhesive-related skin injury is an occurrence in which erythema and/or other manifestation of cutaneous abnormality (including, but not limited to, vesicle, bulla, erosion, or tear) persists 30 minutes or more after removal of the adhesive.”²

Mechanical MARSI includes skin tears and epidermal stripping (skin stripping).

close-up of person itching skin with title dermal pain

There are more than a million sensory receptors distributed throughout human skin. These sensory receptors allow us to experience pain, heat, cold, touch, and pressure.

Burns, bruises, lacerations, abrasions, and insect bites are common occurrences and result in dermal pain.

A wide variety of causes can trigger discomfort related to dermal pain. This impacts concentration, sleep, and quality of life.

References

1. CDC. Bloodstream Infection Event (Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection and Non-central Line Associated Bloodstream Infection), January 2018. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/nhsn/pdfs/pscmanual/4psc_clabscurrent.pdf.

2. McNichol L, Lund C, Rosen T, Gray M. Medical adhesives and patient safety: state of the science: consensus statements for the assessment, prevention, and treatment of adhesive-related skin injuries. J Wound Ostomy Continence Nurs. 2013 Jul-Aug; 40(4): 365-80; quiz E1-2. doi: 10.1097/WON.0b013e3182995516