NICE abandons its SSI guidance

Vascular access device toolkit launched at 2006 ICNA conference A unique resource pack for all healthcare professionals aimed at reducing infection rates in patients using vascular access devices was launched at the ICNA conference last month. The toolkit, entitled Preventing Infections in Vascular Access (PIVA), offers both hospital and community healthcare practitioners easily accessible information and guidelines to implement a direct management approach involving practical measures for introducing, managing or removing intravascular devices. The audit tools will inform staff of the actual outcome of these interventions, thus enabling action plans to be developed for targeted education and review of practice. ICNA president professor Dame Jill Macleod Clark said: ‘The PIVA toolkit combines innovation and excellence and provides a gold standard for practice. It is an outstanding example of a resource which will directly reduce the incidence of infections and improve quality of care of patients and their health outcomes.’ The toolkit has been developed by senior representatives of the ICNA in collaboration with 3M Health Care, and its contents can be dowloaded from the websites www.icna.co.uk and www.3mhealthcare.co.uk.