Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Reduction: Using Evidence to Inform Practice

Abstract

Central line-associated bloodstream infections or CLABSIs cause major life-threatening illnesses that have a high prevalence rate within our healthcare industry today. CLABSIs not only cause potentially fatal consequences for patients, but also cost hospitals a substantial amount of money to treat these infections. CLABSIs can result from not only the insertion of the central line from a healthcare provider, but also in the central line care by nursing staff. Therefore, hospitals have implemented standardized "bundles" for central lines to try to reduce the overall amount of CLABSIs. However, many hospitals are not seeing a significant decrease in the number of infections from the time that they adopted these practices. A systematic review of literature was conducted using the CINAHL Plus database to investigate the efforts of trying to reduce the overall occurrence of CLABSIs and the success rates of these practices. Major themes include the implementation of bundles for central lines are not being consistently applied by those working at the bedside. Inconsistency with the implementation of bundles of care for central lines can be attributed to incomplete knowledge of what needs to be done; while the presence of written policies do not ensure policy compliance. Nurses are at the frontline to ensure patient safety and reducing patient risk for acquiring CLABSIs. It is important that nurses identify the barriers to compliance and collaborate to create effective strategies to promote patient safety and lower the overall occurrence of these life-threatening infections.