Accreditation

Case study: Saint Anthony cuts a swath through catheter infections with hospitalwide huddles

Briefings on Accreditation and Quality, July 1, 2018

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 How much have you reduced hospital-acquired infections (HAI) at your facility in the past two years? Five percent? 10%? 15%? 

If so, you’re a bit behind. In 2016, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) put out an ambitious set of goals for HAIs by 2020. This includes reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) and central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) by 50%. 

With two years left before the deadline, facilities should consider investing in ways to prevent HAIs—particularly given that CAUTIs can cost up to $10,000 per patient. 

Prevention is a challenge, but it can be done. In just two years, Saint Anthony Hospital in Chicago faced down HAIs, cutting its HAI rate by 90% and saving itself $498,000. The hospital even won the Illinois Health and Hospital Association’s (IHA) “Innovation Challenge: Partners in Progress Award.” 

How did the facility make such tremendous strides in infection control (IC)? Short answer: daily interdisciplinary safety huddles (DISH).

While most hospitals conduct safety huddles, what makes DISH different is that participation is hospitalwide. Representatives from all different departments (security, nursing, emergency services, IC, etc.) meet every morning for a 15-minute daily briefing. 

Alfredo Mena Lora, MD, Saint Anthony’s medical director of IC, says DISH is just one aspect of the facility’s HAI reduction program, but it’s an important part. 

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