For November, I would like to express my gratitude to our physicians and APCs, clinical teams and caregivers for absolutely amazing progress with length of stay – which has now held for two months!
Length of Stay – holding strong at target for two months!
Here’s a length of stay throwback for comparison:
- In September of 2024, I wrote about the lowest month year to date at PSPH of 6.26 days and 4.46 days at PCH.
- This year for September and October (despite some calculation adjustments) we are at 4.94 and 5.05 days for PSPH and at 3.88 and 3.5 days for PCH.
- More importantly, a few of our care teams have shared that patient care feels more timely, with fewer delays. Thanks for your engagement and support in this important work!
Opportunities around our quality initiatives
For November I’d like to highlight our work around catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). We need your help in addressing CAUTIs because these hospital acquired infections cause patient harm and cost an estimated $13,793 per infection. We are an outlier in our division and when compared to similar hospitals.
Our Top 5 Focus Areas for CAUTI Prevention are below, see this attachment for additional information in each of these areas.
1. Nurse Driven Removal (NDR) Protocol – goal is to reduce unnecessary indwelling catheters when criteria are met. I am asking for your support of the protocol by ensuring indications are documented and that nurses are supported when removing IUCs according to the protocol.
2. Appropriate Culture Ordering and Urine Sample Collection – much of this aligns with the new urine culture panel ordering.
3. Appropriate Insertion Techniques and Practices – awareness and support for proper nursing practice for foley insertion
4. Bathing and Catheter Care Practices – awareness and support for nursing performance of catheter care and bathing
5. Acute Urinary Retention Management – Awareness and utilization of adult urinary retention pathway in appropriate patients
