Postinsertion central line site care: quality improvement in a medical cardiac ICU.

Using the Six Sigma quality improvement framework of Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control, nurses in the medical cardiac intensive care unit at a large academic medical center in the Midwest identified a gap in the quality of central line site care, evaluated the current state of site care, implemented an intervention to create an improvement in nursing performance of site care, quantified this improvement, and created a model for sustained quality control. Reasons for nonocclusive dressings were revealed and addressed. An unexpected benefit was found in a unifying sense of pride in improving patient care.