The Trach Trail: A Systems-Based Pathway to Improve Quality of Tracheostomy Care and Interdisciplinary Collaboration.

Objective: To implement a standardized tracheostomy pathway that reduces length of stay through tracheostomy education, coordinated care protocols, and tracking patient outcomes.

Methods: The project design involved retrospective analysis of a baseline state, followed by a multimodal intervention (Trach Trail) and prospective comparison against synchronous controls. Patients undergoing tracheostomy from 2015 to 2016 (n = 60) were analyzed for demographics and outcomes.

Contextual Barriers to Communication Between Physicians and Nurses About Appropriate Catheter Use.

Background: Indwelling urinary and vascular catheters are a common cause of health care-associated infections. Interventions designed to reduce catheter use can be ineffective if they are not integrated into the workflow and communication streams of busy clinicians.

Objectives: To characterize communication barriers between physicians and nurses and to understand how these barriers affect appropriate use and removal of indwelling urinary and vascular catheters.