What It Is:

Some hospitalized patients need to have medications, transfusions, or nutrients delivered into their bloodstream using a catheter. Sometimes, disease causing agents (such as bacteria) can enter the blood due to a contaminated intravenous catheter causing a bloodstream infection. Bloodstream infections make up 14 percent of hospital infections and are a leading cause of health care associated death in the United States. These infections also take a serious toll by prolonging patient stays in the intensive care unit (ICU) and in the hospital, and as a result adding significant healthcare costs.

Signs and symptoms of a bloodstream infection include:

• A blood test that is positive for infection
• Fever, chills or low blood pressure

Who is At Risk:

Most hospital-acquired bloodstream infections involve the use of central venous catheters, which are catheters placed directly into a large vein in the neck, chest, or groin. ICU patients are at the highest risk for bloodstream infections because 48 percent have central venous catheters that remain inserted in the vein for an extended period of time (this is known as an indwelling catheter). People who have a central venous catheter inserted in a lower extremity have a higher risk than people who have one inserted in an upper extremity.

What You Can Do:

• Ask your healthcare provider what the hospital’s standards and guidelines are for sterilizing catheter equipment and the location on your body where the catheter will be placed.
• Ask if insertion and maintenance of the central venous catheter is limited to experienced hospital staff. Some hospitals have teams of staff that specialize in central venous catheterization.
• Try to make sure that your doctor removes the catheter as soon as it is possible to do so.
• Review Hospital Care to find information about infection rates at different hospitals in Pennsylvania.

Treatment:

If you develop a bloodstream infection, treatment may include an antibiotic therapy tailored to the particular type of infection that you have. Treatment may also involve removal of the catheter.