CQI/PI Plan for Heart Tx

[SICU Queen]

Hi,

I am in orientation as a Coordinator in a very small heart transplant program. I was just handed a folder with "CQI/PI" on it, and told to create an Excel spreadsheet to track 4 areas for this quarter: line infection, ABO verification, waitlist time, and ischemic time.

Um, I am clueless. I get the gist of how to access the information, but I'm not sure what they're looking for. Do they want to know if someone HAD a line infection, for example, or just that we're tracking all the patients with lines? I was told that the information "is all in the folder" but I am scratching my head over this.

Thanks for any info or help.

[Pedi-Gree, BSN, RN]

I would think they're looking for whether the patient had a line infection or didn't. Catheter-related bloodstream infection was the second indicator on the 100,000 Lives campaign hit list a couple of years ago. For heart transplant patients, line infections are avoidable complications and would be high on any CQI list. ABO verification is another huge deal with adults and the verification process has to be followed to the letter. (Remember a few years ago that teenager who got an ABO incompatible heart transplant and died within days?) Wait times are of course a concern and can affect outcomes, as can cold ischemic times. Your administration is wanting to document these indicators both to see how you're doing and to find areas that could use improvement.