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Volume 10, Issue 8 | August 2010
Case Study: Mount Sinai Achieves Zero CLABSI Rate
Mount Sinai Hospital in Chicago, IL, recently reduced the rate of central–line catheter bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) in its surgical intensive care unit to zero. In 2008, Mount Sinai began looking to reduce its CLABSI rate and launched a series of interventions. To measure the success of the different interventions, Mount Sinai collected data. This article discusses the strategies the organization used to reach its goal of zero CLABSIs.
Driven to Distraction: Reducing Interruptions Among Nursing Staff
This interview with Dave Hanson, M.S.N., R.N., C.C.R.N., C.N.S., director, Professional Development and Nursing Excellence, Northwest Community Hospital, Arlington Heights, Illinois provides insights on how health care professionals can work together to reduce interruptions to nurses during high-risk interventions and how nurses can speak up to limit or postpone interruptions that may put patient safety at risk.
Case Study: Providence Regional Medical Center
Minimizing Blood Transfusions Improves Surgical Safety
Ten years ago, Dr. James Brevig was performing multiple cardiac surgeries every week, many of which required blood transfusions. To ensure that he was performing these transfusions at the right time and as a result of warranted clinical circumstances, Dr. Brevig began looking for evidence-based recommendations about blood use and blood transfusions during cardiac surgery. To his surprise, there really was no consistent evidence relating to when to perform transfusions, and instead there was an incredible variation in transfusion rates across different hospitals. This raised a red flag for Brevig, who was concerned that his organization did not have a consistent method of determining when transfusions were necessary and how much blood to transfuse. He approached organization leadership about the problem and work began to improve the efficiency and safety of blood use within Providence Regional Medical Center.