Eliminating Iatrogenic Infections
Sutter Roseville Medical Center in the Sacramento area is emerging as a national leader to eliminate iatrogenic infections. A revamping of the hospital’s procedure for inserting central line catheters has completely abated bloodstream infections over the past two years. Some 3000 patients had central lines inserted over the period, none of them developed infections related to line insertions.
The system was developed by Sophie Harnage RN who manages the hospital’s infusion unit.
An estimated 2 million iatrogenic infections and 90,000 deaths occur annually in U.S. hospitals according the article. Not only do these infections cost lives, but they produce significant monetary costs as well - up to $40,000 per infection. With the advent of insurance companies not paying for “never events” healthcare organizations are really feeling the push to improve care.
These interventions have shown you can get to zero, we should no longer believe the fallacy that bloodstream infections are going to happen. — Dr. William Jarvis
Most Sutter physicians report being happy with the new procedures because it reduces complications. “This is not rocket science,” Harnage said. “It’s practice, consistency, the reliability and focus of a specially trained team that responds day after day.”
It would appear that Sutter has broken the code regarding central line infections which is on the radar these days as a number of other items are. Clearly this program and technique would be something for other hospitals to investigate and replicate, to improve the quality of care provided and add substantive data to transparency initiatives. Nice job Sophie and Sutter Roseville Medical Center.
About the Author
Mike Pringle is the creator of Mike’s ViewPoint, where he provides his perspective on various Healthcare issues. He currently works at Falmouth Hospital and has over 20 years of Nursing experience. Mike has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, a Masters Degree in Public Administration with a healthcare emphasis and specializes in both Emergency and Critical Care Nursing. Mike’s experience includes being the Executive Officer (2nd in Command) Combat Military Medical Facility as well as being a Nursing Supervisor at his current position.
Chad Shanks, RN responds:
Posted: February 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm →
Mike,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. Had i not run across your posting here on RedScrubs, I might never have seen it - what a shame!
The statement that insurance companies are moving in the direction of not picking up the tab related to such infections is a scary proposition; especially for small community hospitals and nursing homes that already face a very thin profit margin.
Thanks again, and keep ‘em coming!
Sincerely,
Chad Shanks, RN
Mike Pringle responds:
Posted: February 10th, 2008 at 4:00 pm →
The reorganization of reimbursements from insurers has been a long time coming. Healthcare costs have swelled so much in the last few years that most organizations related to healthcare are feeling the burden in their own pockets, forcing new initiatives and cost saving measures.
Healthcare costs go up which has a positive relationship to insurance premiums and an inverse relationship to imbursement authorizations. Hospitals, especially smaller ones in rural areas have to learn to conduct the business of healthcare more efficiently and raise the quality bar. Better techniques, patient safety initiatives to ensure improved patient outcomes and the mitigation of complications are crucial I think to today’s healthcare organizations.