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Published on Jul 21, 2017 in CHOP News
Keep Patients Safe Reduce Suffering Reduce Unnecessary Care
A small plastic tube (catheter) placed in a wrist or leg artery is necessary for continuous blood pressure measurement and frequent blood sampling in children undergoing heart and lung surgery and during their stay in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). While leaving a catheter in an artery is usually safe, injuries can occur. There was a trend of increased injuries involving damage to the skin around the artery — some of these patients required plastic surgery consultation for wound care.
A team from cardiac anesthesiology, the CICU, and wound care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) came together to address this problem. The team standardized the management of the arterial catheters in the operating room using a continuous infusion of a medicine to reduce clot formation and reduce arterial injury. They also performed an injury bedside review with the goal of reducing the amount of time the child had the line.
The rate of arterial injury was successfully reduced.
Updated January, 2018
This initiative helped reduce the number of ED visits and potentially inpatient stays by 50 percent within 30 days following treatment for an asthma hospitalization.
A "treat to target" standardized treatment approach for children with Poly-JIA significantly reduced the disease activity.
A new triage team helped the ED significantly decrease the number of patients who leave without receiving treatment.