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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Ericka Lynne Stroup, MPH, MCP Hahnemann University School of Public Health, Broad and Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19102, 215-991-7829, mdmph1@aol.com
BACKGROUND: The past few decades have resulted in efforts to minimize medical costs leading to significant changes in the health care delivery system. Many types of medical care traditionally provided in a hospital setting, are now provided in the home. Although home health care provides many services, many aspects of home health care delivery are unregulated and often do not conduct surveillance, making retrospective data collection difficult.
OBJECTIVE: To respond to a Philadelphia Home Infusion Service’s need for enhancement of quality improvement regarding infection control surveillance of intravenous (IV) device-related infection risk factors and trends as well as the monitoring of patient discharge outcomes in the home setting.
METHODS: A two-part retrospective medical record review was conducted on 54 patients who were admitted into the service in October 2000 and discharged prior to April 2001. An infection control surveillance tool as well as a patient outcome assessment monitoring system were developed to capture data pertaining to risk factors of catheter-related infections and problems as well as patient discharge outcomes. Data were analyzed using SPSS.
RESULTS: No infections were documented according to CDC’s and APIC’s current diagnostic criteria for IV related infections. However, problems such as bleeding, pain, leakage, and erythema were associated with usage of an IV device. Twenty-five percent of all patient outcome data were missing from 54 charts reviewed.
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study do not concur with current literature pertaining to rates and risk factors of infections. Pertinent data were missing from the medical records, which may have affected the actual infection rate in the home infusion service. Further continuous quality improvement regarding accurate documentation in medical records is needed to accurately assess risk factors and rates of infections in home infusion patients. The results of this study suggest that gaps in the medical records greatly impacted the data collection and outcome. Further provider education and training regarding proper documentation of medical data is essential for continuous quality improvement.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Quality Improvement, Home Care
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.