Intravascular catheter bloodstream infections: an effective and sustained hospital-wide prevention program over 8 years.

Objective: To evaluate a hospital-wide surveillance and intervention program introduced to reduce the incidence of bloodstream infections (BSIs) caused by intravascular (IV) catheters.

Design, Setting And Participants: Prospective surveillance of all inpatients and outpatient attendees with positive blood cultures (both hospital-onset and community-onset) at a 500-bed tertiary referral hospital from 1998 to 2005.

Interventions: Prompt review of all positive blood cultures with identification of BSIs due to IV catheters and associated preventable factors; weekly team meetings and regular reports to clinical areas, with assistance to implement targeted interventions.