ABSTRACT
Decreasing the number of central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) has been an organization-wide goal at Seattle Children’s Hospital (SCH) for many years. About a decade ago, SCH began to apply continuous performance improvement (CPI) to reducing these infections, and we were gratified to see the CLABSI rate drop in our Cancer Care Unit (CAN Unit) from 4.5 per 1000 central line catheter days in 2006 to 3.4 per 1000 central line catheter days in 2011. In terms of absolute numbers, 8 fewer patients developed CLABSI in our CAN Unit in 2011 than in 2006 (34 patients compared with 42 patients). In our 48-bed CAN Unit, we have had a special focus on reducing the CLABSI rate because of the number of patients in the unit who have indwelling central lines and the special risks associated with immunosuppression, which is common among patients with cancer.
