Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLI)

Patient safety remains the most important priority for STEGH and this involves ensuring that patients are not at risk for contracting healthcare-associated infections.

We have a number of practices in place to help prevent and control infections, including a comprehensive hand hygiene program. As of April 30, 2009, all Ontario hospitals are required to post quarterly Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLI) rates to further promote accountability and transparency within the health system.

What is a Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLI-BSI)?

When a patient requires long-term access to medication or fluids through an IV, a central line is put in place. A central line blood stream infection can occur when bacteria and/or fungi enters the blood stream, causing a patient to become sick. The bacteria can come from a variety of places (e.g., skin, wounds, environment, etc.), though it most often comes from the patient’s skin.

STEGH follows best practices on how to prevent bacteria from entering into a central line. Patients in the CICU often require a central line since they are seriously ill, and will require a lot of medication, for a long period of time.

What are health care-associated infections?

Sometimes when patients are admitted to the hospital, they can get infections. These are called health care-associated infections.

If you have any questions about the information below or about our hospital’s infection prevention and control program, please contact us .

CLI Rates at STEGH as reported to the Ministry

STEGH	Jan - Mar  2009	Apr - Jun  2009	Jul - Sept  2009	Oct - Dec  2009	Jan -Mar 2010	Apr-Jun 2010
Case	0	0	0	0	0	0
Rate	0	0	0	0	0	0

All hospitals with Intensive Care Units (ICUs) are required to report into the Critical Care Information System (CCIS) – a centralized data collection system where hospitals report a variety of critical care information – must publicly report the CLI indicator data. These hospitals are considered "eligible" for CLI-BSI reporting.

These Ontario hospitals are posting their quarterly CLI rate and case count for those infections acquired in their facility, using the following formula:

total # of ICU related BSIs after 48 hours of central line placement     x 100
total # of central line days for ICU patients 18 years and older

Due to the low number of ICU patients who have a central line inserted (central line days) at STEGH, we recognize that even one new case of central line blood stream infection will result in a high CLI rate.

What is STEGH doing to improve patient safety?

STEGH is participating in the VAP CLI Canadian ICU collaborative. This collaborative involves hospitals across Canada who by using and sharing evidence based learning has developed key methods aimed at reducing central line infections. STEGH has a multidisciplinary health care team who are actively working through the implementation of all components and measuring our CLI data to identify our compliance and infection rates.

 

STEGH continues to implement the ‘Just Clean Your Hands’ hand hygiene program through out the hospital. We audit our compliance with this program and share the results with staff so that we can identify any areas of improvement.

 

What can patients do to help reduce their chances of infection?

• Patients should always follow instructions given to them by your health care team.

• Frequent hand cleaning is another way to prevent the spread of infection. Hand hygiene involves everyone in the hospital, including patients.

Learn More…

Learn More about Central Line Infections

Infection Prevention and Control at STEGH

More patient-specific information is available at www.ontario.ca/patientsafety and www.oha.com/patientsafetytips and www.oha.com/cleanhandsprotectlives.