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Almost 10 months and counting! That's how long it's been since the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopaedic Hospital has experienced a bloodstream infection from a central line. This record-breaking streak began on March 24, after staff nurses and management made a collective commitment to adopt a new process for central-line management based on a "bundle" of best practices from across the nation, according to Leticia Dahlke, NICU assistant director. "The process was introduced to all staff members, including new grads, at a skills lab earlier this year," she explains. "It was then implemented via the 'buddy system,' in which two staff members change the line together, striving to maintain sterile technique." Can the NICU go an entire year without one of these infections? "That's our goal," says Leticia," and it's definitely within reach now."
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