Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Reduction in Hemodialysis Patients Across 9 Hospitals and 3 States.

Background: This quality improvement project was initiated to reduce hospital-acquired catheter-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in hospitalized patients receiving dialysis. A team dedicated to reducing hospital-acquired infections led the implementation of evidence-based interventions across all the included hospitals. This innovative approach demonstrated substantial enhancements in outcomes for patients on hemodialysis.

Methods: To enhance patient safety in patients receiving hemodialysis, new strategies were implemented, including (1) transitioning from a vendor model to an internal model, enabling dialysis program standardization, (2) empowering intensive care nurses with increased autonomy and ownership, (3) transitioning to a standardized dialysis machine, and (4) introducing chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) impregnated caps and CHG pads. To reduce CLABSI in hemodialysis lines, a multidisciplinary team was formed comprising physicians, nurses, a dialysis technician, pharmacists, the dialysis director, the chief medical officer, the chief nursing officer, the assistant chief nursing officer, the infection preventionist, and the quality director. The team implemented a standardized approach to caring for hemodialysis lines, provided just-in-time education to staff, and standardized policies simultaneously at 8 hospitals. Initially, 1 facility served as the pilot facility for facility-owned dialysis services, totaling 9 facilities providing in-house standardized dialysis services. Data was reported back for monthly evaluation.

Results: Overall, there was an 88% reduction in CLABSI occurrences in hemodialysis lines from pre-intervention (n = 8) to post-intervention (n = 1), X² (1, N = 4112) = 4.181, P = .0408. Collaboration on these initiatives improved communication and enhanced quality care and patient safety across the entire spectrum of care.

Conclusions: Implementing innovative tracking of standardized approaches to patient care and infection prevention and evidence-based interventions resulted in decreased CLABSI rates, improving outcomes in vulnerable patients. An unintended benefit of this project was the increase in multidisciplinary collaboration.