The Michigan program, developed at Johns Hopkins, features a checklist for physicians and nurses to follow when placing a central-line catheter and five basic steps from hand washing to avoiding placement in the groin area where infection rates are higher. The program also promotes safety education, training, solutions implementation, and measure improvements and team member empowerment.
The new study showed that each central line-associated bloodstream infection in Michigan costs a hospital an average of $36,500 to treat. Implementing the patient safety program costs roughly $3,375 per infection averted from 2003-2005. The cost of putting the program in place, mostly in devoted staff time, was an average of $161,000 per hospital.
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