Impact of CLABSI Bundle on Nursing Knowledge and Practice

Abstract

Despite the benefits of central venous catheters, they serve as a medium for bloodstream infections that could be life-threatening. Incomplete adherence to safe insertion and maintenance guidelines by nurses and healthcare professionals increases the risk of central line-associated bloodstream infections. Due to the increasing rate of morbidity and mortality associated with Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSIs), quality improvement projects need to be implemented to maintain patient safety and improve the well-being of patients and healthcare professionals [1]. For this project, K cards were successfully used over a period of three months, as a compliance protocol by nurses at a Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) to ensure that all components of the CLABSI prevention bundle are being followed consistently. After nursing education and the implementation of K cards at the MICU of a metropolitan hospital, there was a statistically significant difference between the pre-intervention group (M = 68.75, SD = 17.0) and the post-intervention group (M = 90.00, SD = 12.88) on the central line maintenance/compliance scores, t (58) = -5.46, p < 0.001, mean difference 21.25, 95% CI 13.46 – 29.04. In addition, no new CLABSI cases were reported during the three months implementation period and two months post implementation.