Units Look Down, See CLABSI Rate Fall
Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections result in thousands of deaths each year and billions in costs to the U.S. health care system. Preventing them is often a matter of following protocol to the letter. Or at Johns Hopkins Hospital, to the color. After a blood draw, the stopper color guides the lab on which tubes have additives. Skewed results mean repeated draws, multiplying the infection risk. So nurses developed a fashionable and fun way to keep track.