Beyond the bundle--journey of a tertiary care medical intensive care unit to zero central line-associated bloodstream infections.

Introduction: We set a goal to reduce the incidence rate of catheter-related bloodstream infections to rate of <1 per 1,000 central line days in a two-year period.

Methods: This is an observational cohort study with historical controls in a 25-bed intensive care unit at a tertiary academic hospital. All patients admitted to the unit from January 2008 to December 2011 (31,931 patient days) were included.