Central Venous Access: The Missed Patient Safety Goal

Hospital-acquired conditions are conditions that never should happen to a patient while in the care of physicians, nurses, and the health care facility. Central line-associated bloodstream infections plague the nation's health care facilities. With increasing rates of infections being reported during hospitalization, hospital-acquired conditions, namely, infections, and more specifically central line-associated bloodstream infections, are now at the top of patient safety concerns and impact organization's reimbursement. Increased surveillance of infections by regulatory agencies and the implementation of value-based purchasing have hospitals racing to put into place strategic plans to reduce and eliminate infections that occur while the patient is hospitalized. There are many ways to reduce and eliminate these infections from the nation's health care facilities. The development and implementation of a specialty vascular access team to insert, maintain, and care for central lines are strategies that can be a power tool for all health care facilities.