Reducing unnecessary diagnostic phlebotomy in intensive care: a prospective quality improvement intervention.

BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients receive frequent routine and recurring blood tests, some of which are unnecessary. AIM: To reduce unnecessary routine phlebotomy in a 30-bed tertiary medical-surgical intensive care unit (ICU) in Toronto, Ontario. METHODS: This prospective quality improvement study included a 7-month preintervention baseline, 5-month intervention and 11-month postintervention period. Change strategies included education, ICU rounds checklists, electronic order set modifications, an electronic test add-on tool and audit and feedback. The primary outcome was mean volume of blood collected per patient-day. Secondary outcomes included the number blood tubes used and red cell transfusions. Balancing measures included the timing and types of blood tests, ICU length of stay and mortality. Outcomes were evaluated using process control charts and segmented regression. RESULTS: Patient demographics did not differ between time periods; total number of patients: 2096, median age: 61 years, 60% male. Mean phlebotomy volume±SD decreased from 41.1±4.0 to 34.1±4.7 mL/patient-day. Special cause variation was met at 13 weeks. Segmental regression demonstrated an immediate postintervention decrease of 6.6 mL/patient-day (95% CI 1.8 to 11.4 p=0.009), which was sustained. Blood tube consumption decreased by 1.4 tubes/patient-day (95% CI 0.4 to 2.4, p=0.005) amounting to 13 276 tubes (95% CI 4602 to 22 127 tubes) saved over 11 months. Red blood cell transfusions decreased from 10.5±5.2 to 8.3±4.4 transfusions/100 patient-days (incident rate ratio 0.56, 95% CI 0.35 to 0.88, p=0.01). There was no impact on length of stay (2 days, IQR 1-5) and mortality (18.1%±2.0%). CONCLUSION: Iterative improvement interventions targeting clinician test ordering behaviour can reduce ICU phlebotomy and may impact red cell transfusions. Frequent stakeholder consultation, incorporating stewardship into daily workflow, and audit and feedback are effective strategies.

Patient harm associated with serial phlebotomy and blood waste in the intensive care unit: A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are at high risk of anemia, and phlebotomy is a potentially modifiable source of blood loss. Our objective was to quantify daily phlebotomy volume for ICU patients, including blood discarded as waste during vascular access, and evaluate the impact of phlebotomy volume on patient outcomes. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational cohort study between September 2014 and August 2015 at a tertiary care academic medical-surgical ICU. A prospective audit of phlebotomy practices in March 2018 was used to estimate blood waste during vascular access. Multivariable logistic regression was used to evaluate phlebotomy volume as a predictor of ICU nadir hemoglobin < 80 g/L, and red blood cell transfusion. RESULTS: There were 428 index ICU admissions, median age 64.4 yr, 41% female. Forty-four patients (10%) with major bleeding events were excluded. Mean bedside waste per blood draw (144 draws) was: 3.9 mL from arterial lines, 5.5 mL central venous lines, and 6.3 mL from peripherally inserted central catheters. Mean phlebotomy volume per patient day was 48.1 ± 22.2 mL; 33.1 ± 15.0 mL received by the lab and 15.0 ± 8.1 mL discarded as bedside waste. Multivariable regression, including age, sex, admission hemoglobin, sequential organ failure assessment score, and ICU length of stay, showed total daily phlebotomy volume was predictive of hemoglobin <80 g/L (p = 0.002), red blood cell transfusion (p<0.001), and inpatient mortality (p = 0.002). For every 5 mL increase in average daily phlebotomy the odds ratio for nadir hemoglobin <80 g/L was 1.18 (95% CI 1.07-1.31) and for red blood cell transfusion was 1.17 (95% CI 1.07-1.28). CONCLUSION: A substantial portion of daily ICU phlebotomy is waste discarded during vascular access. Average ICU phlebotomy volume is independently associated with ICU acquired anemia and red blood cell transfusion which supports the need for phlebotomy stewardship programs.

Infecciones asociadas a catéteres en niños tratados con hemodiálisis / Associated infections to catheters in children dealt with hemodialysis

Se estudiaron los expedientes clínicos de los 22 pacientes incluidos en el plan de enfermos crónicos del Servicio de Hemodiálisis de nuestro hospital en el 2005. Diez de estos pacientes tenían como acceso vascular temporal para hemodiálisis un catéter venoso central percutáneo (45,5 por ciento) y en ellos se registraron 26 procesos infecciosos relacionados con el cateterismo −algunos de ellos presentaron más de un episodio de infección relacionado con el catéter. Los catéteres utilizados fueron colocados por vía percutánea en las venas subclavia, femoral y yugular interna. Los catéteres insertados en la vena femoral presentaron el mayor número de complicaciones infecciosas. El hemocultivo fue positivo para el mismo germen en 14 casos del total de pacientes infectados, lo que evidenció que 53,8 por ciento de los pacientes desarrollaron una infección asociada al uso del catéter. Los gérmenes que predominaron fueron los grampositivos (53,7 por ciento), representados mayoritariamente por el estafilococo coagulasa-negativo. Las sepsis sistémicas predominaron en el estudio y todos los pacientes desarrollaron manifestaciones clínicas. En nuestro servicio la tasa estimada de sepsis por catéter para hemodiálisis fue de 18,1 por ciento.

The medical histories of the 22 patients from the chronically-ill patient program of Hemodyalisis Service at our hospital were studied in 2005. Ten of them had a central percutaneous venous catheter as a temporary vascular access for hemodyalisis (45,5 percent), but they also suffered 26 catheter-related infectious processes, some of them even more than one episode of infection. The used catheters were percutaneously placed in subclavian, femoral and internal jugular veins. Those catheters inserted into the femoral vein exhibited the highest number of infectious complications. Hemoculture was positive to the same germ in 14 cases of the total number of infected patients, which proved that 53,8 percent of patients developed catheter-related infection. Predominant germs were Gram-positve (53,7 percent) mostly Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Systemic sepsis prevailed in the study and all the patients had clinical manifestations. The estimated rate of catheter-associated sepsis in hemodyalisis was 18,1percent.

Infecciones asociadas a catéteres en niños tratados con hemodiálisis / Associated infections to catheters in children dealt with hemodialysis

Se estudiaron los expedientes clínicos de los 22 pacientes incluidos en el plan de enfermos crónicos del Servicio de Hemodiálisis de nuestro hospital en el 2005. Diez de estos pacientes tenían como acceso vascular temporal para hemodiálisis un catéter venoso central percutáneo (45,5 por ciento) y en ellos se registraron 26 procesos infecciosos relacionados con el cateterismo −algunos de ellos presentaron más de un episodio de infección relacionado con el catéter. Los catéteres utilizados fueron colocados por vía percutánea en las venas subclavia, femoral y yugular interna. Los catéteres insertados en la vena femoral presentaron el mayor número de complicaciones infecciosas. El hemocultivo fue positivo para el mismo germen en 14 casos del total de pacientes infectados, lo que evidenció que 53,8 por ciento de los pacientes desarrollaron una infección asociada al uso del catéter. Los gérmenes que predominaron fueron los grampositivos (53,7 por ciento), representados mayoritariamente por el estafilococo coagulasa-negativo. Las sepsis sistémicas predominaron en el estudio y todos los pacientes desarrollaron manifestaciones clínicas. En nuestro servicio la tasa estimada de sepsis por catéter para hemodiálisis fue de 18,1 por ciento(AU)

The medical histories of the 22 patients from the chronically-ill patient program of Hemodyalisis Service at our hospital were studied in 2005. Ten of them had a central percutaneous venous catheter as a temporary vascular access for hemodyalisis (45,5 percent), but they also suffered 26 catheter-related infectious processes, some of them even more than one episode of infection. The used catheters were percutaneously placed in subclavian, femoral and internal jugular veins. Those catheters inserted into the femoral vein exhibited the highest number of infectious complications. Hemoculture was positive to the same germ in 14 cases of the total number of infected patients, which proved that 53,8 percent of patients developed catheter-related infection. Predominant germs were Gram-positve (53,7 percent) mostly Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus. Systemic sepsis prevailed in the study and all the patients had clinical manifestations. The estimated rate of catheter-associated sepsis in hemodyalisis was 18,1percent(AU)