Central lines, also called central venous catheters, are necessary for many patients in intensive care units (ICUs) for both treatment and monitoring purposes. Patients who need central lines are often very sick and are more vulnerable to infections, and remain in the hospital longer. Preventing central line infections is especially crucial for these patients.

Beginning in 2005, a majority of the adult intensive care units (ICUs) in HHC hospitals participated in a Critical Care Collaborative program to dramatically reduce hospital-acquired infections by consistently following a "bundle" of evidence-based clinical practices. Shown below are the rates reported by the ICUs in the Collaborative. 

Central Line Infection Rates
ICUs In Critical Care Collaborative
Rates per 1000 CL Days

Hospital-Specific Data

Beginning in 2008, HHC collected central line infection data from all of the adult ICUs in its 11 hospitals, not just those that participated in the Collaborative. Below is the corporate rate that includes all ICUs.

Central Line Infection Rates - All ICUs
Rates per 1000 CL Days

Hospital-Specific Data

Central line infections at all HHC hospital ICUs for 2010 were at 3.2 infections per 1,000 patient days, down from 7.6 in 2005, when we began to report statistics for a smaller number of our ICUs. Despite the increase from 3.0 in 2008, 17 of 27 ICUs were able to achieve five months or more without a single central line infection, compared with 14 of 27 in 2008.