Increasing Compliance of Chlorhexidine Gluconate Baths in the Intensive Care Unit
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Authors
Linens, Autumn
Issue Date
2025-03-13
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
Alternative Title
Description/Abstract
Background: Central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) can be a preventable hospital acquired infection, contributing to high morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs despite the proven effectiveness of Chlorohexidine gluconate (CHG) baths in prevention. Compliance with CHG baths remains low due to factors such as patient refusal, inadequate staff education, and improper administration.
Purpose: This QI (quality improvement) project aimed to increase compliance with daily CHG baths in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit) by implementing a provider order within the electronic medical record (EMR), ensuring the task was added to nurses' daily workflow. A secondary objective was to assess provider adherence to the EMR order and its impact on CHG bath compliance by comparing pre- and post-intervention compliance rates.
Methods: This QI project implemented a provider order for daily CHG baths within the EMR to improve compliance in the ICU. A retrospective chart review compared compliance rates before and after the intervention, analyzed using a Friedman rank sum test and Fisher’s exact test.
Results: Compliance with daily CHG baths increased from 37% pre-intervention to 85% post-intervention. A significant association was found between the presence of a provider order and CHG bath administration (p = .039), with patients 8.84 times more likely to receive a CHG bath when an order was in place (OR = 8.84).
Conclusion: This project demonstrates the potential of evidence-based interventions to improve compliance of daily CHG baths in the ICU, enhancing patient outcomes and quality of care.