• Linda M Hoke, Gracy C Mathen, and Ellen Beckett.
• Linda M. Hoke is a unit-based clinical nurse specialist and serves on the cardiac progressive care unit's nurse leadership team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
• Crit Care Nurse. 2024 Aug 1; 44 (4): 273627-36.

BackgroundDespite implementation of central catheter bundles, central line [catheter]-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) remain a preventable hospital-acquired infection.Local ProblemA new population of patients with pulmonary artery catheters was introduced to the cardiac progressive care unit, increasing central catheter days, device use, and CLABSI rate.MethodsA quality improvement project was conducted. Nursing staff implemented a standardized central catheter rounding process 3 days a week to critically assess all central catheter dressings, deter-mine the necessity of each central catheter, and educate patients on the importance of keeping central catheter dressings clean, dry, and intact. Data were collected during central catheter rounds for each patient, entered in an electronic survey tool via mobile devices, and analyzed.ResultsFrom July 2019 through June 2022, a total of 2692 rounds were conducted for 707 individual patients with 3064 central catheters. Main interventions were dressing management, monitoring insertion site bleeding that extended beyond edges of the chlorhexidine gluconate pad, treating patients' allergies to products, and maintaining sustainability within the unit. Central catheter rounds decreased the CLABSI rate from 1.86 to 0.0 despite the continued increase in central catheter days.ConclusionsCentral catheter dressing assessment, intervention, and education help reduce CLABSIs. Central catheter rounds are an important adjunct to the CLABSI bundle. A central catheter dressing management algorithm helps nurses decide when to change a dressing and which type of dressing to use.©2024 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses.

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