Catheter Infection Prevention Guidelines

CDC Updates IV Catheter Infection Prevention Guidelines

News Author: Laurie Barclay, MD

CME Author: Hien T. Nghiem, MD]

April 7, 2011 — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) have updated intravascular catheter infection prevention guidelines. The new recommendations and review of underlying supporting evidence, entitled "Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections," will also appear in a special supplement of the American Journal of Infection Control and are published online in the March 30 Advance Access issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases. The American Journal of Infection Control will also present a video roundtable highlighting the viewpoints of healthcare professionals on the anticipated effects of this new guideline on infection prevention practices.

Preparation for intravascular catheter insertion

"The updated CDC guidelines are rich with new recommendations that are based on additional scientific research that has emerged since the prior version was published," said Russell N. Olmsted, MPH, CIC, 2011 president of the Association of Professionals of Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), in a news release. "This is an important resource to support efforts toward the elimination of catheter-related bloodstream infections [CRBSIs].... The timing for this updated guideline is perfect because, starting this year, hospitals that accept Medicare patients are required to report their central line–associated bloodstream infections to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or risk losing 2 percent of their Medicare payments."/.../