Bellomo R, Goldsmith D, Uchino S, et al. Prospective controlled trial of effect of medical emergency team on postoperative morbidity and mortality rates. Critical Care Medicine. 2004;32(4):916-921.

Prospective, controlled before-after trial. In the control period, there were 301 adverse outcomes/1,000 surgical admissions, which decreased to 127/1,000 surgical admissions during the intervention period. There was also a significant decrease in the number of postoperative deaths. 

Bellomo R, Goldsmith D, Russell S, Uchino S. Postoperative serious adverse events in a teaching hospital: A prospective study. Medical Journal of Australia. 2002;176(5):216-218.

Serious adverse events were found to be common and result in high mortality, raising important issues of optimal perioperative management.

Soufir L, Timsit JF, Mahe C, Carlet J, Regnier B, Chevret S. Attributable morbidity and mortality of catheter-related septicemia in critically ill patients: A matched, risk-adjusted, cohort study. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 1999;20(6):396-401.

A matched, risk-adjusted cohort study to determine the attributable risk of death due to catheter-related septicemia (CRS) in critically ill patients when taking into account severity of illness during the ICU stay but before CRS.

Raad, II, Hanna HA. Intravascular catheter-related infections: new horizons and recent advances. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2002;162(8):871-878.

Narrative review of over 100 published articles on intravascular catheter-related infection, focusing on new diagnostic techniques, novel preventive techniques, and optimal management of infections.

Raad, II, Hohn DC, Gilbreath BJ, et al. Prevention of central venous catheter-related infections by using maximal sterile barrier precautions during insertion. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 1994;15(4 Pt 1):231-238.

Randomized controlled trial of maximum barrier precautions vs. use of sterile gloves and small drape during insertion of non-tunnelled central venous catheters for cancer chemotherapy. Maximal barrier precautions markedly reduced the early infection rate.

Pittet D. Improving compliance with hand hygiene in hospitals. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. 2000;21(6):381-386.

Review of the reasons for poor compliance with handwashing amongst hospital staff. Easy access to handwashing facilities and ready availability of skincare lotion are imperative to ensure improved compliance. A multimodal, multidisciplinary approach at the individual, group, and institutional level is recommended.

Pittet D, Tarara D, Wenzel RP. Nosocomial bloodstream infection in critically ill patients. Excess length of stay, extra costs, and attributable mortality. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1994;271(20):1598-1601.

Case-control study in a surgical ICU over two years. Patients who developed bloodstream infection during their ICU stay were matched for primary diagnosis, age, gender, length of stay up to the day of infection, and total number of discharge diagnoses with patients who did not develop bloodstream infection (“controls”). The mortality was 50 percent in patients who developed bloodstream infection compared to 15 amongst controls, giving an estimated attributable mortality of 35 percent.

Parenti CM, Lederle FA, Impola CL, Peterson LR. Reduction of unnecessary intravenous catheter use. Internal medicine house staff participate in a successful quality improvement project. Archives of Internal Medicine. 1994;154(16):1829-1832.

Quality improvement project led by medicine house staff in a large university-affiliated veterans hospital that resulted in a marked reduction in “idle catheter episodes,” defined as periods when peripheral IV catheters were not being used.

Merrer J, De Jonghe B, Golliot F, et al. Complications of femoral and subclavian venous catheterization in critically ill patients: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2001;286(6):700-707.

Randomized controlled trial in 289 adults requiring a first central venous catheter, randomized to femoral or subclavian site. The femoral site was associated with a higher risk of infectious and thrombotic complications.

Mermel LA. Prevention of intravascular catheter-related infections. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2000;132(5):391-402.

Narrative review that summarizes data on the epidemiology, costs, attributable mortality, and prevention of bloodstream infections caused by ventral venous catheters.