"As a push for a national hand hygiene initiative gets underway, research has shown nurses outshine doctors and other medical staff by having the cleanest hands in the hospital."
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INQRI researchers are also recognizing the impact nurses can have in this arena. A research team at Johns Hopkins University has conducted the first randomized-control trial to reduce central line associated blood stream infections among ICU patients. There are some 80,000 catheter-induced bloodstream infections each year, causing up to 28,000 deaths. This study, conducted in ICUs in 12 states, has shown in preliminary analysis that substantial reductions in infections can be widely achieved and this project did so with nurses leading the infection control efforts. Their study builds on the well-known work of Dr. Peter Pronovost, creator of the line-insertion “checklist.” Hospitals that followed the components of their ICU safety program, as well as adopted a safety improvement environment that fostered nurse involvement in quality improvement efforts, reduced, and in some cases completely eliminated, bloodstream infections for several months at a time. Their research is also showing that higher nurse turnover is related to higher infection rates.
Click here to read Chris Kennedy's article.Click here for more information on the INQRI researchers.
Nursing a profession that many consider to be very hands on’ has traditional held to strictly classroom and clinical learning methods for its students.
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