What We Learned: Five Key Lessons
This section of the report addresses the question, "What did we
learn?" by drawing on the experiences of the National Project Team (NPT) over 4 years, and with interviews
conducted with 11 State leads.8 To
better understand the facilitators and barriers to the project, two HRET staff conducted
semi-structured interviews lasting 60 to 90 minutes each with the State leads
of six high-performing and five challenged States. One staff person led the
interview, while another recorded and coded responses. High-performing and
challenged States were defined by the degree of CLABSI rate reduction or the
number of units in a State that sustained a zero CLABSI rate for the last two
reporting periods and degree of unit team engagement determined by the number
of recruited and retained hospitals, data submission rates, and unit attendance
on content and coaching calls. The interview questionnaire was designed to
elicit information about a number of topics: why the association joined the
initiative; association leadership engagement; association experience with QI
collaboratives; association QI infrastructure (staff, qualifications, and QI
committees); State consortium stakeholders; educational programming, coaching
calls, and overall faculty support; data collection and use; NPT support; key
challenges and successes; and sustainability plans. The 40-question interview
guide is provided in Appendix A.
1. Have Well-Defined, Evidence-Based Interventions
A national campaign has distinct requirements that do not exist in
smaller-scale improvement efforts. Only well-defined interventions with
demonstrated significant results can be successful in national efforts where
there are limited resources and capacity to execute them. The published success
of the MHA Keystone: ICU project contributed significantly to HRET's ability to
recruit States to On the CUSP: Stop BSI. The published results
demonstrating the impact of the MHA Keystone: ICU project legitimized the On
the CUSP: Stop BSI program in two ways: 1) by heightening awareness of the
significant morbidity and mortality associated with central line infections,
and 2) demonstrating that these infections could be reduced to almost zero. The
magnitude of this success in 127 ICUs across the entire State of Michigan
helped alleviate the skepticism and fatigue that surround many quality
initiatives that have proliferated in recent years. On the CUSP: Stop BSI was
adapted closely from the MHA Keystone: ICU project and had well-defined interventions—the
CUSP model to address safety culture and the technical change package.
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2. Build a Solid Implementation Structure and Project Plan
National Experts with Proven Ability
Having highly credible national experts with proven ability to achieve
project goals is a critical element of any successful national quality
improvement campaign, and this was certainly the case with On the CUSP: Stop
BSI. All State leads interviewed by HRET stated that the national expertise
and leadership of members of the NPT was a primary factor in their recruitment
to this program.
Successful Implementer
The results of On the CUSP: Stop BSI demonstrate that MHA
Keystone and the Armstrong Institute had developed an education and coaching
program that could be scaled up nationally. The ability of MHA Keystone to
clearly articulate what worked in their State was also extremely important.
Knowing that a peer organization could and did achieve success encouraged other
States/regions to try this in their home territory.
Endorsement and Coordination of Key Stakeholders
The NPT communicated frequently with leaders working on the elimination
of HAIs at CDC and HHS in order to inform them of the goals and progress of On
the CUSP: Stop BSI. National content calls and State lead meetings featured
CDC and HHS as faculty to explain data definitions and discuss the HHS national
campaign to eliminate HAIs. CDC and HHS representatives also served on the
program's TEP which, as mentioned earlier, provided
periodic feedback to the NPT on the project's direction, implementation and
evaluation. As noted above, States/regions were strongly encouraged to work
with State and regional stakeholders to coordinate successful strategies for
eliminating CLABSI.
National Infrastructure
The creation of a national infrastructure to set goals, coordinate
efforts, and assure accountability was vital to the successful implementation
of On the CUSP: Stop BSI (see "National Project Team" and "Project
Stakeholders" sections). As the project progressed, the NPT learned to improve
communication channels to ensure effective coordination among all groups. To
keep State leads informed, HRET created a weekly update, which State leads
could use in turn to communicate with their unit teams. The NPT held monthly State
lead calls in which State leads could share their experiences and strategies with
their peers.
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3. Collect and Use Timely, Accurate, and Actionable Data to Improve Performance
A Web-based data system that units could easily use to upload teamwork
and CLABSI rate data and which States could use to generate reports was
critical to the success of this initiative. At the start of the project, few
hospitals were entering infection data into NHSN so most participants submitted
data to the NPT through the Care Counts data repository operated by MHA
Keystone. As time progressed, the NPT worked with State hospital associations
and CDC so that participant data could be pulled directly from NHSN into Care
Counts, avoiding the need for duplicate data entry. Once data was in the
system, States/regions viewed data reports generated by the NPT on their
monthly coaching calls to monitor progress. The NPT used these reports to track
State and national progress. In addition to reporting progress to AHRQ on a
semi-annual basis, the NPT was able to use the database to identify units with
a rate of 3/1,000 central line days or higher in the last reporting quarter. The
NPT provided an action planning kit for States and regions to assist them in
doing one-on-one follow up with each of these units to reduce their CLABSI
rates. Of the units identified, about half dropped their rates since targeted
efforts were implemented.
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4. Tailor National Program for Local and Unit Audiences
Hospitals and regions do not all begin improvement efforts with the
same level of knowledge, attitudes, and skills, and it became apparent early on
in the project that the NPT needed to accommodate these differences. Examples
of how the NPT addressed local and special needs included holding Critical
Access and Long-term Acute Care affinity group calls, developing a neonatal CLABSI
elimination collaborative and holding conference calls on central line
maintenance which surpassed line insertion as the biggest opportunity for
CLABSI reduction. The NPT also made itself available to States and regions with
less regional quality improvement experience, limited staff and/or those
without clinical backgrounds. State leads in States with a history of
successful quality improvement collaboratives were asked to share their
experiences and resources with other States and asked their unit teams to
present on national calls. In the case of Puerto Rico, it soon became apparent
that Spanish translation services were needed on monthly coaching calls and
that the CUSP Manual and CLABSI Elimination Toolkit needed to be translated
into Spanish. The "Science of Safety" video was also made available in Spanish to
support staff from participating Puerto Rican units.
States also asked for a focus on the neonatal intensive care unit
(NICU). In fall 2011, HRET partnered with the Perinatal Quality Collaborative
of North Carolina (PQCNC) to leverage existing, State-based neonatal networks
to recruit nine States that registered 100 NICUs. Using a slightly different
model than On the CUSP: Stop BSI, this national neonatal central line-associated
bloodstream infection project, also known as the NCLABSI project, employed
neonatologists and clinicians as the State leads. Participating NICUs received
CUSP education on a shortened timeframe, a technical bundle that was geared for
the neonatal population and submitted their rate and teamwork data into a
database developed by PQCNC. A separate, final report on the results of NCLABSI
was submitted to AHRQ.
Supplemental funds were provided by AHRQ to States/regions to support
local needs. States/regions could apply for these supplemental funds by
outlining their unique or local needs and a plan of action. For example,
Missouri saw a need to tailor the CUSP curriculum for their hospital units, and
Wisconsin decided to make improvements to their State hospital association
listserv and database. For their final in-person meeting, Ohio focused the
agenda on immuno-suppressed patients and central line maintenance because they
saw an opportunity to make large gains in that area. It was important to
recognize and financially support States/regions and hospitals that had special
content needs and to adapt the project to fit their interests and capabilities.
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5. Evolve Project Strategies and Emphases Over Time
Work with Late Adopters
On the CUSP: Stop BSI was a multi-phase effort spanning four
years. Over that time, there were changes that required the NPT to adjust its
strategies and emphases. The knowledge, skills, and attitudes of the State and
regional participants changed over time. For example, the last cohort of States
did not consist of early adopters, and they needed additional support. The NPT
met frequently to try to address the lower level of engagement of these State
leads and their unit teams. And while no particular solution was developed, the
NPT did attempt to focus on the "late majority" and "laggards" of the Rogers
Innovation Adoption Curve with a "higher intervention technique with more
frequent tracking and communication and coaching services."9
Seek New Opportunities to Reduce CLABSI
As rates declined, the NPT, States/regions, and unit teams looked for
opportunities to reach zero CLABSIs. This included changing focus on central
line insertion to central line maintenance and disseminating guidelines on dressing
changes and hub scrubbing. It involved disseminating CUSP and CLABSI
elimination interventions to different areas of the hospital such as non-ICUs
and hemodialysis units, and focusing on special patient populations such as
those who were immuno-suppressed.
Adapt to Changing External Environment
The NPT learned to be flexible in responding to the changing
environment at all levels—from the national level to the unit level. This
manifested itself in how the NPT advised States on monthly State lead calls and
in using faculty from HHS and CDC to present to unit teams and at State lead
meetings. States and unit teams worked to adapt, coordinate, and integrate
other improvement techniques and tools such as TeamSTEPPS®, Just Culture, Lean,
and Six Sigma programs with the CUSP efforts.
In some States, there was competition for hospital recruitment with the
State QIO. Many States made the decision to have some hospitals do the QIO
CLABSI intervention and others participate in the On the CUSP: Stop BSI initiative.
Other States were able to work with their QIO and not compete for hospital unit
recruitment.
When CUSP became an explicit component of the 10th Scope of
Work for QIOs around the country, members of the NPT met with CMS and developed
a short series of national calls with QIOs to explain the CUSP model and make
QIOs aware of all of the On the CUSP: Stop BSI resources located on the
project Web site.
In States that had health departments with CDC contracts to reduce
HAIs, State health department representatives attended and sometimes served as
faculty at in-person meetings. By the end of the project, many participating
hospitals were also being recruited to join a CMS-funded Hospital Engagement
Network (HEN). Because the HENS have received considerable resources to promote
improvement in 10 areas, including CLABSI, the NPT has worked to share resources
and expertise with HEN contractors to support their CLABSI improvement
activities.
8 HRET staff interviewed State leads from Florida,
Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oregon,
South Dakota and Wisconsin.
9 Rogers EM. New Product Adoption and Diffusion. Journal of Consumer Research. 1976; 2(4):290-301. Available at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2488658 
accessed on August 1, 2012.
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