Central Line Care: Reducing Central Line–Associated Bloodstream Infections on a Hematologic Malignancy and Stem Cell Transplant Unit

Creating a proactive CLABSI prevention culture

“…Routine education on CLABSI prevention, policy, and protocol for nurses will provide frequent reminders that the issue is very real for the patients we take care of. Education that's provided to floor staff should also be multimodal in nature to address the diverse learning needs of nurses 9. Providing audiovisual or print content with hands-on practice is a good combination of learning methods to cater to staff needs.…”

“…Education that's provided to floor staff should also be multimodal in nature to address the diverse learning needs of nurses. 9 Providing audiovisual or print content with handson practice is a good combination of learning methods to cater to staff needs. Educators should make a defined effort to include all licensed team members who handle central lines in CLABSI prevention education, including imaging staff who handle contrast or injectable media.…”

Recommendations for change in infection prevention programs and practice

“…Several important interventions are needed to achieve improvements in surveillance and prevention of BSI including expansion of the definition, improved documentation of clinical findings to prevent missed events and over-diagnosis, 114 identification of provider knowledge gaps followed by education to support the introduction of an enhanced central line maintenance bundle, 115 and evaluation of novel technologies including advanced antimicrobial IV dressings that may extend the effective antimicrobial period over the entire recommended duration of the dressing. 116 Future endeavors should include in vivo studies that test the effectiveness of advanced dressings in reducing BSIs.…”