Reducing blood culture contamination rates: a systematic approach to improving quality of care.

Contaminated blood cultures can have a deleterious effect on patient care; they may lead to longer hospital stays, unnecessary antibiotic therapy, needless removal of central lines, and redundant laboratory testing. A multidisciplinary quality improvement team from a western US health care system used an evidence-based process to define a system for obtaining blood culture specimens that subsequently decreased contamination rates from 3.7% to 1.

At the table: a communication network model for local public health, acute care, long-term care, and community partners.

Chronic medical conditions, colonization with antimicrobial-resistant organisms, infections, and outbreaks are common in residents of long-term care facilities. A local Long-Term Care Health and Safety Network was created in 2008 to provide opportunities for representatives from long-term care facilities, the public health department, acute care hospitals, and community partners to improve and strengthen communication regarding infectious diseases and safety issues across the continuum of care.

Mandatory influenza vaccination of health care workers: a first-year success implementation by a community health care system.

Poudre Valley Health System is a private, not-for-profit health care system of more than 5,300 employees. Poudre Valley Health System increased its influenza vaccination coverage rate among health care workers from 68% in 2009 to 95.5% in 2010 after implementing a mandatory influenza vaccination program.