Aseptic placement and daily assessment of the device are just as important to patient safety as device selection. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has established a care bundle (grouping of best practices) to be followed when inserting and maintaining central venous catheters (7).

These include:

• Hand hygiene
• Maximal barrier precautions
• Chlorhexidine skin antisepsis
• Optimal catheter site selection
• Daily review of line necessity

A detailed description of this bundle is provided in the next section of this manual.

Go to Section 4:
Reducing Infection Risk: Central Line Bundle and Central Line Insertion Procedure Checklist