Phelps County Regional Medical Center made the Top-Three in a statewide poll of hospitals cited for the best and worst infection rates associated with central-line catheters used in intensive-care units.
In comparing infection rates experienced by 40 hospitals in Missouri, PCRMC was lauded as one of the top performers in the March issue of “Consumer Report,” a national publication. PCRMC was one of three Missouri hospitals that reported zero infections resulting from central-line catheters, or intravenous catheters that are threaded through large veins to an area near the heart.
Different than a regular I.V. that is ordinarily inserted into a patient’s arm, center-line catheters are used to quickly deliver large quantities of blood, blood products, nutrients and medications to patients in the Intensive-Care Unit.
For more than two years, PCRMC has incurred zero infections in patients who must have a central-line catheter insertion, explained Debbie Halinar, director of Infection Control-Security at the hospital.
According to national averages compiled in 2008, the latest available data, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2008, of a total of 1,193 central-line days (number of patients who had central lines times the number of days the line was in use) PCRMC experienced zero infections as a result of the insertion or maintenance of the line.
