Teamwork helps fight potentially harmful conditions
Like ICUs around the country, the Woodland Hills team struggled to protect patients from contracting ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and central line-associated bloodstream infections.
Both conditions, among the most common hospital-acquired infections, can lengthen hospital stays, complicate recovery and even cause death.
But care improved dramatically after the team took steps that focused on patient safety and quality, and they credited a culture of collaboration as the key component to their success.
“It’s about working in partnership with physicians, nurses and other staff to deliver high-quality care based on the newest evidence,” says Lynne Scott, RN, a clinical nurse specialist for the Critical Care and the Definitive Observation Unit. “We’re constantly moving forward.”
They had their nurses place patients at the optimal angle of 30 degrees to ensure that fluids didn’t collect in their lungs, and also made sure that patients received routine oral care.
For greater oversight, two nurses changed the dressing 24 hours after the line was placed and were responsible for changing it weekly. The charge nurses were also involved, checking the dressing, IV tubing and injection ports twice a day.
And in further support, ICU employees held daily multidisciplinary rounds. This involved everyone on the care team who touched the patient, including physicians, nurses, dietitians, pharmacists, medical social workers and family members.
As of this writing, the results were nearly immediate with no patients contracting VAP or central line-associated bloodstream infections since late 2011.
Their efforts netted the team the 2015 Gold Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, the world’s largest specialty nursing organization. The award recognizes hospital units that demonstrate exceptional care through improved outcomes and greater overall patient satisfaction.
Read more about what the team did to improve communication and collaboration.