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It begins by challenging “the way it’s always been done”, but the results are in the implementation. An interdisciplinary team at Monongahela Valley Hospital staff immersed themselves in a process to reduce infections caused by catheter use over a three month period. The Pittsburgh office of VHA Inc., the national health care alliance, recognized Monongahela Valley Hospital (MVH) for demonstrating excellence in patient care. MVH is one of a few qualifying VHA member hospitals to receive VHA Pennsylvania's Achieving Patient Care Excellence (APEX) award. The award recently was presented to MVH for demonstrating extraordinary levels of clinical performance by eliminating Symptomatic Catheter-Associated Hospital-Acquired Urinary Tract Infections. "With the prevalence of hospital infection in the nation, this infection control recognition is very important to us," said Mary Lou Murt, Senior Vice President for Nursing at Monongahela Valley Hospital. “It not only verifies that we are providing excellent patient and infection control care but it also ranks us in the top VHA hospitals in the state.”
The APEX award is designed to honor organizations that have differentiated themselves by demonstrating extraordinary levels of clinical performance. The recognition program is open to all members of the VHA Pennsylvania region, and hospitals are evaluated in several areas that include infection control, critical care, glucose control and patient safety. “We developed a interdisciplinary catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA UTI) prevention team to ensure there is compliance with best practices,” said Murt. The team was lead by Lynda Nester, RN, Nursing Quality
Coordinator and consisted of a Nurse Manager, staff nurses from
various
Members of the team reviewed research and best practices, revised policies and procedures, educated clinical staff and implemented a process to review the each patient’s need for daily urinary catheter use. “A team goal was to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CA UTIs) hospital-wide by 50 percent. Our hospital surpassed that mark by reducing those infections by nearly 60 percent. Another team goal was to reduce the number of days that patients used catheters. Through team initiatives, the hospital staff reduced those days by 33 percent,” Murt said. A urinary tract infection usually occurs when bacteria on the skin or in the genital or rectal area enter the urinary tract via the urethra. If conditions are right, these bacteria can multiply within the urethra and bladder, causing infection. Sometimes infections begin during a medical procedure that requires placement of a catheter, a thin flexible tube that is inserted through the urethra and into the bladder, to drain urine. Organisms can “climb” up the catheter into the bladder, resulting in a urinary tract infection. MVH achieved excellent results including three consecutive months with zero CA UTIs. The team developed or adopted other initiatives as well. Plastic hooks, usually used to hang Christmas decorations were used to attach catheter bags at the proper height on wheelchairs to prevent infection. The team also partnered with a local 4-H club. The children at the club are making covers for patient catheter drainage bags to respect their privacy when out of the room. “We are pleased to honor MVH with this award and were delighted with MVH’s results,” said Marilyn Rudolph, RN, BSN, MBA, vice president of performance improvement at VHA. “Many hospitals tell us they can never get to zero but MVH accomplished it for three months running. "VHA is working with hospitals across the nation to help them improve clinical performance. In fact, our members are some of the best performers in the country. This award validates their commitment, as well as ours, to improve clinical quality and patient care,” Rudolph said. Only 10 hospitals in Pennsylvania achieved this award. The APEX award program was launched in March 2007.
Data for APEX Award criteria is reviewed by VHA Pennsylvania staff
on a quarterly basis. To learn more about MVH’s clinical improvement
initiatives visit www.monvalleyhospital.com, and to learn more about
VHA Inc. and its clinical improvement initiatives, visit www.vha.com.
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