Retrieval Part on Peer Critiqued Articles on Central Line Infections

First Article 

The Joint Commission. (2012). Preventing Central Line–Associated Bloodstream Infections: A Global Challenge, a Global Perspective. Oak Brook, IL: Joint Commission Resources. Web. Retrieved from: https://www.jointcommission.org/assets/1/18/CLABSI_Monograph.pdf 

The article is authored by the Joint Commission and provides a detailed set of statistics regarding the morbidity, mortality, and expenditure by the US government on the CLABSIs. It gives comprehensive information relating to the pathogenesis of the infections, morbidity, mortality, as well as the risk factors. However, as its weakness, the article is not extensive enough on the preventive measures to be taken against the central lines infections. Despite the central lines being the main subject of discussion, the article does not give any informative discourse on the peripheral or arterial lines as they relate to the central lines. Nevertheless, the article is materialistic in discussing the implementation projects such as Bacteriemia Zero project, the Pronovost model, and the INICC as well as providing statistics on their success. Based on the publication date of the article, it does not provide recent and updated information on the current researched and developed preventive measures. However, to its credit, it provides the scope of the Joint Commission Resources’ monograph on the efforts they undertake in educating nurses and other health practitioners on the preventive measures to partake in alleviating CLABSIs.

Second Article 

Chopra V, Krein SL, Olmsted RN, et al. (2013). Prevention of Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections: Brief Update Review. Rockville (MD): Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (US). (Evidence Reports/Technology Assessments, No. 211.) Chapter 10. Web. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK133364/ 

The article is authored by Chopra et al. (2013) and is more extensive in terms of preventive measures compared to the former article. In fact, it highlights the ten risk factors involved with CLABSIs prior to discussing the preventive measures and practices against the same. Similar to the previous article, the authors of this article provide meticulous statistical data to support the mortality, morbidity, and expenditures as they appertain to the central lines infections. To the credit of the authors, they provide potential and existing challenges to the central lines infections prevention and management. The article also raises the issues and gaps in the research on best methods and techniques for preventing the CLABSIs in the case of long-term inserted CVCs. However, it does not provide recommendations on what procedures to be followed to address these gaps and challenges. A second weakness of the articles is that it does not mention the existing projects such as the Bacteriemia Zero project or the Pronovost model and their success or failure. Regarding the statistics, the article only provides expenditure data from the patients’ perspective and ignores expenditures accrued by the government regarding CLABSIs and how those expenditures affect the government.

Third Article 

Ling, M. L., Apisarnthanarak, A., Jaggi, N., Harrington, G., Morikane, K., Thu, L. T. A., … Lee, C.-M. (2016). APSIC guide for prevention of Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infections (CLABSI). Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, 5, 16. Web. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4857414/ 

The article by Ling et al. (2016) is on the guidelines for prevention of the CLABSIs. It is well outlined with an abstract, background, the preventive measures, and conclusion. The authors fundamentally note that the central lines are the most common infections associated with healthcare but subsequently assert that they are preventable. In regards to the preventive strategies, it is more detailed and comprehensive compared to the rest as it provides an in-depth explanation of all the preventive methods as well as subsequent tenets for every preventive measure highlighted. Moreover, it provides a detailed list of recommendations on how to implement the central lines bundles and strategies which could be very informative to the nurses. However, as its weakness, the abstract and background of the article do not provide facts and figures on the morbidity, mortality, and government expenditure on the infection. In addition, the article does not adequately explain the problem, neither does it clarify how the issue in question affects the government or patients in regards to their expenditure. Furthermore, it does not point out any challenges or gaps regarding the research on prevention of the central lines infections. Nevertheless, it gives recommendations on best implementation strategies which nurses and other medical practitioners can put into practice. Ultimately, the article is summarized in a befitting conclusion which addresses important concepts and recommendations on prevention.