cover story
The Great Reset After the Pandemic :
Renewed Efforts at CLABSI Prevention is Part of Addressing Escalating HAI Rates
When you talk about unresolved issues , one of the things that is beautiful about this update is that every person who ’ s interested in
CLABSI is going to read this Compendium at some point , and they ’ re going to discern where there are gaps in the evidence .”
By Kelly M . Pyrek
Recently updated guidance from five medical organizations highlights practice recommendations for the prevention of central line-associated bloodstream infections ( CLABSIs ) at a time when hospitals urgently need to strengthen infection prevention programs . The CLABSI prevention guide is the first to be published in a series of seven evidence-based practice recommendation guides for acute-care hospitals on the prevention of healthcare-associated infections ( HAIs ).
The Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals : 2022 Updates was issued under the leadership of the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America ( SHEA ) in partnership with the Infectious Diseases Society of America ( IDSA ), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology ( APIC ), the American Hospital Association ( AHA ), and The Joint Commission , with representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society ( PIDS ), and other organizations with content expertise . The Compendium : 2022 Update is the third iteration of the Compendium , which was originally published in 2008 and revised in 2014 .
When it comes to guidance development , specifically for purposes of the Compendium , Kelly Cawcutt , MD , director of medical quality for Nebraska Medicine , explains , “ Panels of experts are brought together who understand the intricacies of the clinical infection control and regulatory components of the guideline subject matter . These experts are engaged in and understand the science of the research at hand . For the updates to the Compendium , a substantial search is performed on all the published scientific medical literature upon which we rely for evidence-based care . They are then reviewed for the quality of evidence . Specifically , for the CLABSI update , experts examined data on how central line-associated bloodstream infections are prevented . The way that the evidence is usually reviewed is that multiple people are looking at this long list of references , looking for what might need to be included , but then also examining the level of evidence . When we discuss the level of evidence , we ’ re talking about premier-level evidence provided through randomized controlled trials , particularly those that are blinded . They also look at the systematic reviews and meta-analyses that include randomized controlled trials to get the highest level of data to