Central line infections in United States hospitals: An exploration of variation in central line device days and infection rates across hospitals that serve highly complex patient populations

Abstract

Our descriptive analyses show a wide distribution in rates of central line device days and central line-associated bloodstream infections for a given standardized infection ratio-the measure linked to federal payment penalties-among 215 US hospitals serving highly complex patient populations. We established that the standardized infection ratio masks hospital-level variation in device use and associated patient safety.

Keywords: Central line–associated bloodstream infection; Device use; Quality improvement.