Earsing KA, Baugher Hobson D, White KM. Best-practice protocols: Preventing central line infection. Nursing Management. Oct 2005;36(10):18-24.

Compliance with venous access best practices at Johns Hopkins Hospital hinged on nursing and physician management, and quality improvement programs. This article is part of a series that describes the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives Campaign recommended interventions from a nursing management perspective.

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Hader R. Best-practice protocols: Every second counts. Nursing Management. Jun 2005;36(6):28-33.

This article, the first in a series, gives an overview of the six interventions recommended by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement as part of its 100,000 Lives Campaign to reduce hospital deaths, as well as other initiatives to improve patient safety.

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Teach Safe Practices When Using Alcohol-Based Hand Rubs. Joint Commission Resources On-line Safety Alert. May 22, 2006.

A health care worker at a Michigan hospital received a small (2cm) burn to her hand after an electrostatic discharge (ESD) ignited alcohol-based hand rub (ABHR). Improving hand hygiene compliance, including the use of alcohol-based hand rubs, is a major quality and safety initiative in health care. Communication with staff should continue to focus on the importance of compliance, and organizations should remind ABHR users to allow the alcohol to adequately dissipate before contact with any potential source of ESD.

DeVita MA, Hillman K, Bellomo R, eds.
New York, New York: Springer Publishing; 2005

Based on successful Medical Emergency Team (MET) models that have resulted in reduced in-hospital cardiac arrest and overall hospital death rates, this book is the first practical guide for physicians, hospital administrators, and other health care professionals who wish to initiate a MET program within their own institutions. Topics covered include patient safety and quality of care; the logistics (resource allocation, process design, workflow, and training) of creating a MET; the implementation of a MET (organizational issues, challenges); and the evaluation of program results.

McCarthy D, Blumenthal D. Committed to Safety: Ten Case Studies on Reducing Harm to Patients. The Commonwealth Fund. April 2006; Publication No. 923.

This report presents ten case studies of health care organizations, clinical teams, and learning collaborations that have designed innovations in five areas that hold great promise for improving patient safety nationally: promoting an organizational culture of safety; improving teamwork and communication; enhancing rapid response to prevent heart attacks and other crises in hospitals; preventing health care-associated infections in the intensive care unit; and preventing adverse drug events throughout the hospital.

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Hadaway LC. Keeping central line infection at bay. Nursing2006. Apr 2006;36(4):58-63.

Central venous catheters (CVCs) are associated with more infections — and more serious infections — than short peripheral catheters. Patients who need CVCs are typically sicker and more vulnerable to infections; also, their catheters are likely to be accessed more often, increasing their potential exposure to microorganisms. In this article, the author, a nationally known authority on IV therapy, spells out recommendations from IHI’s 100,000 Lives Campaign and reviews the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s pertinent guidelines for preventing intravascular catheter-related infections.

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Pruitt B, Jacobs M. How can you prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia? Nursing2006. Feb 2006;36(2):36-41.

If your patient already is critically ill, developing ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) will prolong his hospitalization and recovery and significantly increase the risk of more complications and death. In this article, the authors from the University of South Alabama discuss how you can help prevent VAP from developing and more effectively intervene if it occurs, and how IHI’s 100,000 Lives Campaign has targeted VAP prevention as one of six interventions to prevent avoidable deaths in hospitals.

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Scholle CC, Mininni NC. How a rapid response team saves lives. Nursing2006. Jan 2006;36(1):36-40.

Deploying a Rapid Response Team is one of six strategies in IHI’s 100,000 Lives Campaign that can prevent avoidable deaths. Learn how the authors from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Hospital developed a Rapid Response Team, see why bedside nurses have embraced it, and find out what you can learn from their experience to improve care and save lives in your facility.

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Boyce JM, Pittet D, et al. Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care Settings: Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 2002;51(RR16):1-45.

To overcome barriers and lack of knowledge in health care about good hand hygiene practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee published these comprehensive guidelines. One of the principal recommendations was that waterless, alcohol-based hand rubs (liquids, gels or foams) are the preferred method for hand hygiene in most situations due to the superior efficacy of these agents in rapidly reducing bacterial counts on hands and their ease of use.

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Bisognano M, Plsek P, Schummers D
Chicago, Illinois: Health Administration Press with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2005

Authors Maureen Bisognano and Paul Plsek — both frontline figures in the improvement and innovation field — share concepts in enhancing care and service delivery that have been developed and successfully implemented in outpatient as well as inpatient settings of actual health care organizations. Topics include creativity and innovation, bundles, pattern mapping, Rapid Response Teams, medication reconciliation, flow, spreading improvements, and more. [This is the second book in a series.]