C56-30 Daily E-Huddles for the Reduction of Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections in the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract Rationale Central Venous Catheters (CVCs) are increasingly used in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) for the management of critically ill patients. They are associated with complications which increase morbidity and mortality. Central Line Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSIs) are a preventable complication. Bundled interventions for CLABSI reduction include huddles. In these huddles the CLABSI reduction team meet with the bedside team to advocate for the removal of CVCs which qualify for de-escalation. This is a resource intensive intervention and is usually difficult to implement consistently. We implemented a daily E-huddle to overcome these resource limitations. Methods This is a single center, quality improvement project, implemented in the Medical ICU of a large academic medical center. Implementation occurred in January 2023. Data up to September 2025 are shown. The intervention included a clinical nurse specialist compiling a daily list of CVCs which met prespecified criteria for de-escalation. The chat function of the electronic health record was used to communicate in the morning with the first-on-call provider and nurse to flag these CVCs for de-escalation. The list was also e-mailed to the attending, fellow and medical director. If a patient remained on the list the next day the medical director communicated with the attending or fellow to encourage removal. Results Data from 2022 was used as a baseline. There was a reduction in average central line days from 656/month in 2022 to 560/month in 2023. Total line days were reduced by 1,152 days. CLABSIs were reduced from 11 to 7. The CLABSI rate decreased from 1.4 to 0.96. Data in 2024 and 2025 showed an increase back to the baseline but were still less than data prior to 2022. The increase was in the setting of increased number of ICU beds and patient acuity. Conclusions In our study there was a significant reduction in central line days, CLABSIs and CLABSI rate in the intervention year compared to baseline and they have remained low compared to historic data. The rise seen in 2024 and 2025 is in part explained by an increase in total ICU beds to 48 from 44. There was also a systematic reduction in medicine boarders in the ICU which increased patient acuity. Daily E-huddles can be implemented where in-person huddles may be difficult as they are easier and less resource intensive. This abstract is funded by: None