CLABSI Prevention Across Pediatric ICU Population

The pediatric population in the PICU has a higher likelihood for the necessity of a central line placement. Among many other reasons, these may include the need for long-term medication therapy, receiving large amounts of fluid and medications, and a longer hospital stay. The use of a central line placement has many benefits for these clients, but comes with a high risk of infection, which can be detrimental to the overall health of the client due to the placement of the central line within the heart. This population is more susceptible to develop a central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) if there is a lack of CLABSI bundle compliance by the PICU nurses.7 The CLABSI rate per 1000 patient-days dropped from 3.1 per 1000 device-days to 0.4 per 1000 device-days.3 This means that the CLABSI rate dropped from 0.31% to 0.04% per device use days.3 CLABSI Bundle compliance decreased the prevalence by nearly 8 times. The CLABSI bundle approach aims to prevent the incidence of CLABSIs within the PICU population. The CLABSI bundle slightly varies, but should include hand hygiene, aseptic technique for accessing and changing connectors, standardized tubing changes, accurate charting of dressing changes, and daily review of catheter necessity.