Key Metrics - Stead Family Children's Hospital Quality & Safety
Keeping kids as safe as possible while providing high-quality care is our goal—every day. We track our progress on key safety and clinical care measures and invite you to view our data.
Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI)
What is this?
A catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) can occur when germs enter the urinary tract. This is an infection that affects patients with a urinary catheter. A urinary catheter is a flexible tube that is placed in the body to drain urine from the bladder. Urinary catheters are used in hospital settings to monitor a child’s urine output.
How do we perform?
Lower is better. Our target goal is <1 infection per 1,000 days a catheter is in place.
Prolonged use of a urinary catheter increases a child’s risk of developing a CAUTI. Catheters should be removed as soon as they are no longer needed.
We have processes in place to remove urinary catheters as soon as possible to prevent these infections.
Please feel free to ask why your child has a catheter in place and when it can be removed.
Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection (CLABSI)
What is this?
We use intravenous lines (IVs) to give medications and fluids to sick patients. One type of IV is a central line, which is a thin tube inserted into a vein that ends near the heart. Central lines can be very useful for taking care of some children. A central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) occurs when germs enter the central line and make their way into the bloodstream.
How do we perform?
Lower is better. Our target goal is <1 infection per 1,000 days a central line is in place.
A CLABSI is a serious infection. It can make a patient sicker and increase the length of a hospital stay.
CLABSIs can be prevented through standard processes when inserting and caring for central lines. UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital participates in national collaborative projects with other children’s hospitals to share best practices in preventing these infections.
Please feel free to ask why you or your child has a catheter in place and when it can be removed.
Hand Hygiene
What is hand hygiene?
Hand hygiene is a term for cleaning hands to reduce harmful germs on the hands.
Why is it so important in the healthcare setting
Hand hygiene is the main way to reduce the risk of infection for patients and health care personnel.
How do we perform?
Higher is better. Our target goal is >90% compliance.
We have hand hygiene reminders and supplies located throughout the hospital to make it easier to clean hands. We are developing a safety culture to help us be more comfortable reminding each other to clean hands even when we might be distracted and busy.
Ask and remind healthcare team members to clean their hands. Your hands spread germs too, so protect yourself and your family member by cleaning your hands often.
Serious pressure injury
What is this?
A pressure injury is a sore involving skin and the tissue underneath the skin. It happens when there is constant pressure on an area of skin over a boney area or under a medical device such as a cast or brace, face mask, or tube. It can also occur when a child is not able to move or change positions while in bed.
How do we perform?
Lower is better. We are working to prevent all serious pressure injuries.
A serious pressure injury leads to scarring, which may require additional medical treatment.
Each inpatient unit has specially trained team members to make sure that pressure injury prevention bundles are used.
Turn and reposition your child with the help of the nursing team.
Surgical Site Infections
What is this?
A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs after a surgery on the part of the body where the surgery took place. A surgical site infection might involve the skin, or tissues under the skin, organs or an implant.
How do we perform?
Lower is better. Our goal is that these infections never happen. We are working to decrease our rates of infection.
A surgical site infection might cause your child to have to stay in the hospital longer, return to the doctor unexpectedly, or even cause your child to be re-hospitalized.
We review our infection rates often and use evidence-based strategies to decrease our rate of infection.
We also work closely with other children’s surgery centers to test methods to reduce infections.
Before surgery:
Make sure your child bathes and washes their hair the day before surgery.
Also have them sleep in clean pajamas and bedding the night before surgery.
After surgery:
Keep your and your child's hands very clean.
Make sure to clean your hands before and after you touch your child, their IV line or tubing, or any drainage bag or tube.
Also please feel free to remind the healthcare team members to clean their hands.
Additional resources that help us keep kids safe
Keeping our patients safe is just as important as helping them feel better.
That’s why we joined more than 140 children’s hospitals across the United States and Canada in the Solutions for Patient Safety (SPS) network. In addition, we work through our safety culture initiative, Safer Together, to ensure each staff member makes a personal commitment to safety.
We have a children’s hospital daily safety briefing, unit-based daily safety huddles, learning reviews of emergency events, and organization-wide training to assure safe, high-quality care.