Get a grip on patient safety: outcomes in the palm of your hand

Documentation of what nurses do and the consequential impact on the care and safety of the patient is essential for the optimal use of intravascular devices. The University of Louisville Hospital's infection control department collaborated with the infusion therapy team on a project designed to provide an easier and more reliable way to quantify what the infusion therapy team did and the resultant patient outcomes. This project was based on software developed by the infection control department for use with the handheld personal digital assistant (PDA). This article will discuss how use of the PDA and software meet individual departmental needs and impact patient outcomes and patient safety by using evidence-based decision-making.