Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

17 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT NYC hospital goes CLABSI-free for 6 quarters By Mackenzie Bean N YC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull has won a national quality award for its work to reduce central line- associated bloodstream infections, the hospital said June 14. The New York City-based hospital received the 2024 IPRO Quality Award for reducing reliance on catheters and going six consecutive quarters without any CLABSI cases. A team led by infection preventionists first conducted a daily prevention bundle compliance audit and reviewed healthcare-associated infection cases to identify areas of improvement. Insights were shared monthly with the hospital's infection control and nursing performance improvement committees. Interdisciplinary teams also conducted daily rounding on all medical, surgical and critical care units to review the clinical necessity of central line or urinary catheters, identify opportunities for alternatives and prompt removal when appropriate. Hospital leaders said the interventions improved team communication and collaboration, reduced the use of central line and urinary catheters and consequently lowered CLABSI rates. "Effectively preventing and controlling HAIs requires an interdisciplinary team working in a collaborative manner," Dilcia Ortega, RN, MSN, director of infection prevention at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, said in a news release. "Our team proved that evidence-based interventions are effective in preventing healthcare-associated infections, promoting high quality patient care and reducing hospital costs." The hospital was one of 26 organizations to receive the 2024 IPRO Quality Award. n A delay in hospital closure is posing patient safety risks, execs say By Mariah Taylor A n ongoing exodus of healthcare workers from Mount Sinai Beth Israel is posing risks to patient safety "in the very near future," Politico reported July 17. e New York City-based hospital had expected to close July 12, but remains open until the state approves its new closure plan. Since submitting its original closure plan in October, around 450 employees have le on their own and the hospital has transitioned many others to different hospitals. "Staffing instability has reached a critical point where we are no longer able to continue reliably providing safe patient care," Liz Sellman, the hospital's president and COO, said in an affirmation filed July 15. "Staffing at the hospital is sufficiently thin and unstable that even a relatively minor event, such as staff calling out sick, could have a debilitating and potentially life-threatening effect at the hospital. ese are not appropriate conditions under which to operate a hospital." Hospital leaders and staff are raising the alarm on the widening staffing gaps in hopes of accelerating the state Health Department's review process and convincing a judge to loosen a restraining order that blocks the hospital from downsizing services. Current and former workers also told Politico they fear quality of care has already suffered due to downsizing services and relocating staff. ey said they consider the situation to be at least partly self-inflicted as the hospital started transferring healthcare workers to different Mount Sinai locations. For example, staffing in perioperative care dropped from 92 employees in December to 33 in March. "We know that all of you who remain at the hospital have been doing everything possible to serve our patients and keep them safe," Beth Israel executives wrote in a memo to staff obtained by Politico. "We are using our best efforts to recruit and to bring in staff from other campuses, temporary (locum) doctors and other providers, and agency nurses to help you provide high-quality care. Despite that, we have not been able to bring in all the staff that we would like to." e hospital is closing due to a decline in emergency medical visits in the past decade, but about 4,000 patients still go to the emergency room every month. Health Department spokesperson Erin Clary told Politico that "the Department has been in regular communication with Mount Sinai leadership regarding staffing concerns and to ensure patient safety. e closure plan remains under review and as a result, the Department cannot comment further." Mount Sinai submitted its initial closure plan in October 2023, then submitted a revised July 12 closure plan aer the health department said the original plan was incomplete. "We chose that specific day because it was the furthest date we believed we could reliably keep the hospital open safely," Brendan Carr, MD, CEO of Mount Sinai, and Elizabeth Sellman, president and COO of Mount Sinai Beth Israel, said in a July 10 internal memo shared with Becker's. "We will, of course, not commence the closure process without approval by the state and until the legal hurdles are cleared, but there is urgency as there are risks associated with keeping the hospital open beyond the proposed date." e department is still reviewing the revised plan. n

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