Impact of personalized report cards on nurses managing central lines.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this quality improvement project was to determine the effect of providing feedback to managers and bedside nurses on the nurses' central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) contributing factors, found on visual and documentation audits.

METHODS

This nonexperimental, quality improvement project was conducted in a 715-bed, 2-campus acute care community hospital health care system in Southwest Florida. The intervention consisted of providing confidential feedback on central line audits deviations, through the systematic delivery of unit case reports and personalized nurse report cards. Analysis of central line audit deviations and subsequent report cards was undertaken.

RESULTS

Of the 620 lines visually audited from 14 nursing units, over 16 weeks, 113 lines (19.2%) failed the audit. Each line triggered an electronic medical record audit, which identified 628 CLABSI contributing factors. Subsequently, nurse managers received 113 unit case reports and 487 bedside nurses received report cards. Over time, the frequency of CLABSI contributing factors decreased (ρ = -0.12, n = 620, P = .003).

CONCLUSIONS

Central line audit analysis, providing unit case reports to nursing managers and 1-on-1 personalized nurse report cards, has shown an increase in compliance with established guidelines for the management of central lines.