Systems-based Practice in Burn Care: Prevention, Management, and Economic Impact of Health Care-associated Infections.

Abstract

Health care-associated infections in burn patients, from ventilator-associated pneumonia to skin and soft tissue infections, can substantially compromise outcomes, because these complications are associated with longer lengths of stay, increased morbidity and mortality, and greater direct medical costs. Health care-associated infections are largely preventable, through surveillance, education, appropriate hand hygiene, and culture change, especially for device-related infections. Systems-based practice, which allows individuals and clinical microsystems to navigate and improve the macro health care system, may be one of the most powerful skill sets to effect change, permitting a shift in culture toward patient safety and quality improvement.

• Authors: Charles Scott Hultman, David van Duin, Emily Sickbert-Bennett, Lauren M DiBiase, Samuel W Jones, Bruce A Cairns, David J Weber
• Journal: Clinics in plastic surgery (Clin Plast Surg) Vol. 44 Issue 4 Pg. 935-942 (Oct 2017) ISSN: 1558-0504 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 28888319 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Topics

• Bacteremia (epidemiology)
• Burns (epidemiology, surgery)
• Catheter-Related Infections (epidemiology)
• Catheterization, Central Venous (adverse effects)
• Cohort Studies
• Cross Infection (economics, microbiology, therapy)
• Humans
• Incidence
• Infection Control (organization & administration)
• Intensive Care Units
• North Carolina (epidemiology)
• Pneumonia, Ventilator-Associated (epidemiology)
• Quality Improvement
• Retrospective Studies
• Soft Tissue Infections (epidemiology)
• Surgical Wound Infection (epidemiology)
• Urinary Tract Infections (epidemiology)