Using Swabcap Case Study

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Using SwabCap® to Reduce the Number of Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSIs) Dawn E Bennett Joliet Junior College Nursing 260 Using SwabCap® to Reduce the Number of Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSIs) According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), every year health care associated infections (HAIs) affect 5% of hospitalized patients in the United States. CLABSIs are a deadly HAI, with a mortality rate of 12%-25%. In 2009, the number of CLABSIs in an Intensive care unit (ICU) setting was estimated at 18,000, and for patients in an inpatient ward was an estimated 23,000. Patients receiving hemodialysis as an outpatient in 2008 had an higher rate of CLABSIs, with an estimated…show more content…
Noncompliance, due to the several steps and time pressure, and variation in the manual method is believed to be at fault. It was decided to trial the use of SwabKit® in early 2010 on the critical care units, medical-surgical units, and step down units. They used the caps on central venous catheters (CVCs), peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs), and peripheral intravenous (PIVs). The trial was successful, so they decided to implement use of the kits hospital wide in July 2011. After a two month adjustment period, the hospital began to record data on the use of SwabKit®. A reduction of 70.4% was seen in CLABSIs in the first six months of hospital wide use. The number of infections went from 14 cases to 4 cases. At the time the study was written in May 2012, there have been 0 cases of CLABSIs since February 2012 (McCalla, et al.,…show more content…
They cite variance and noncompliance as the issue for their infection rate. They decided to use SwabCap® as a trial, because the cap can only be twisted on one way, which would eliminate variance. Also, the ease of use, bright orange color, and quick application would help eliminate noncompliance. In December 2010, the caps were implemented hospital wide for use on all central lines. By February 2011, it was revealed to only have a 34% compliance rate. So, the SwabKit® was implemented near the beginning of April 2011 with a 84% rate of compliance by July of the same year. The hospital has seen a 67% decrease in CLABSIs from April-December 2011. They credit the kit for the decrease, and moving closer to their goal of 0 CLABSIs (Yancey,
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