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Podcast: Catheter-Related Bloodstream Infections
Rand: From the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, I’m Rand
Gardner with Healthcare 411: Information for better health.
Every year nearly 2 million patients in the U.S. experience health
care-associated infections while receiving treatment for medical or surgical
conditions. Eliminating these infections is a major health care priority. As
AHRQ’s patient safety expert Dr. Bill Munier explains, dramatic improvements are
possible and sustainable.
Dr. Munier: A new study based on AHRQ’s research showed that using a
checklist and other standardized procedures when inserting or removing catheters
helped more than 100 hospitals in Michigan lower their infection rates to near
zero and keep them there for more than 3 years. The project was designed to
eliminate bloodstream infections related to the use of catheters, which are
tubes placed in a large vein in the patient’s neck, chest or groin to give
medication or fluids or to collect blood samples. It is one of our great success
stories.
Rand: Healthcare 411 is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
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