APIC believes that the reduction and elimination of CRBSIs depends on the involvement of hospital leadership in the process.

"Infection preventionists have told us for years that they cannot do this without clinical and administrative champions. The message needs to come out from the CEO, from the very top of the organization," said Warye. "There needs to be alignment from the CEO down through all the critical functions and positions through the organization that can have an impact on the success or failure of the effort."


For the purposes of the survey, preventable bloodstream infections included infections resulting from central lines, dialysis lines, implanted ports and peripheral lines.

Approximately 80,000 patients develop CRBSIs on an annual basis in the United States, and about 30,000 people die from them. The country's health care system spends more than $2 billion a year to care for the infected patients, according to APIC.

"I think for many years, infections were considered to be a natural outcome of complex care and a lot of people don't believe that we have within our grasp the science to reduce them, the processes to reduce them," said Warye. "I think once that is recognized, you're going to see a lot more commitment. But it is the clinical and executive leadership taking this on as a personal commitment that is most critical," she said.

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