Web Site Targets Central Line Infections

Three associations have launched a Web site to disseminate best practices to eliminate central line-associated bloodstream infections.


Three associations have launched a Web site to disseminate best practices to eliminate central line-associated bloodstream infections.

Known as CLABSIs, these infections are caused by bacteria entering through a catheter and kill 30,000 patients annually, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Association for Vascular Access and the Infusion Nurses Society.

The new site, clabsi.apic.org, offers educational materials, Web seminars, guidance documents from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other sources, and advice from experts. The site includes information on how to correctly insert a central line catheter, conduct surveillance for possible infection and promote cultural change to prevent CLABSIs.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, starting this year, requires Medicare participating hospitals to report the number and rate of adult intensive care patients who acquire CLABSIs.

--Joseph Goedert

 

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