Healthcare-Associated Central Line Blood Stream Infections in Intensive Care Units
Eliminate Central Line Infections
What are we measuring?
The rate of patients with healthcare-associated central line bloodstream infections in intensive care units.
Note: Hospitals use different ways to calculate rates. We calculate our rates using 1000 catheter days as the denominator.
Why is this important?
A central line is a device inserted directly into a major blood vessel to allow quick delivery of medications. Patients in ICUs may have a central line placed if they need fluids, medications, or monitoring. Central lines are very helpful but sometimes they become infected. An infection associated with these lines may flow into the bloodstream. These infections can be very serious because they can lead to damage of other vital organs.
What is our performance telling us?
The chart below shows how BIDMC's performance compares to our internal benchmark, which is the average rate of the previous year. Look for big differences in the rates in order to be sure that the difference is meaningful. Small differences may not reflect real differences in performance (i.e., they may not be statistically significant).
*The Internal Benchmark for FY 2012 is the mean FY 2011 rate for all intensive care units combined.
View our past performance over time >>
BIDMC's central line infection rate is 1.01 for all intensive care units combined for the 1st Quarter of FY13. Our performance during this most recent quarter exceeded our goal for reducing central line infections.
What are we doing to improve our performance?
At BIDMC, we are working to reduce the risk of these infections by providing a special insertion kit, standardizing the insertion and care of central lines, and providing daily surveillance of central lines. We review every healthcare-associated bloodstream infection that occurs to determine its cause so corrective measures can be taken that may prevent future infections.
Other useful measures on infections:
Last updated: April 5, 2013