Reversing the pandemic increase in HAIs requires a restart of efforts to evaluate , educate and revisit the basics of infection prevention to ensure consistent hand hygiene , skin antisepsis , access disinfection and removal of unnecessary catheters .”
problem units and undesirable outcomes provide opportunities to pinpoint the need for specific types of education and products to promote improvement . Consideration for antimicrobial products , dressings and other devices designed to reduce infection can help to fill the gap to reduce infections . Consideration for new technologies requires the clinician to effectively evaluate products , published evidence and outcomes in the clinical setting . Each of these types of practice evaluation , education and product strategies have been effectively employed over the past 20 years to reduce central-line infections . With the recent increase in HAIs , it ’ s time to broaden our patient safety focus and extend these same efforts to all peripheral and central IV devices .
Nancy Moureau , RN , PhD , CRNI , CPUI , VA-BC , is the chief executive officer at PICC Excellence , Inc ., a research member of the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research ( AVATAR ) Group , and an adjunct associate professor at Griffith University in Brisbane , Australia .
nancy @ piccexcellence . com
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