Congress Abstracts 2005

17

DECREASING THE INCIDENCE OF RSV IN AN OUTPATIENT BMT SETTING. Laura Turkel, RN, BSN, and Cynthia Besas, RN, BSN, OCN^®, Duke Health Systems, Durham, NC.

Topic: The Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) can be fatal to imuno-compromised patients. A program that combines increased awareness with aggressive disinfecting and isolation protocols is effective in reducing the risk of RSV infection among outpatient bone marrow transplant clinic patients at low cost.

Purpose: The purpose of this presentation is to illustrate, as an exemplar from one institution, how, in response to a critical incident, clinic staff partnered with patients, caregivers and staff across multiple disciplines to implement consistent and low cost training, hygiene and disinfecting protocols to limit the incidence of RSV.

Interventions: RSV is typically introduced into the outpatient clinic by patients or their caregivers from the outside. Common RSV symptoms are nasal congestion, sore throat, cough and/or fever. With our plan of intervention nurses educate patients to recognize RSV symptoms. RSV procedures are reinforced at weekly caregiver meetings. The presentation will outline how the staff used a performance improvement process to limit the spread of RSV. The specific implementation steps, such as the protocol for hand washing and education of patients will be described.

Evaluation: Long term the efficacy of the program will be shown by comparing post- program RSV infection rates against historical data. The short-term value of the program is measured by the cost of the program versus in-patient healthcare costs due to avoidable RSV infection.

Discussion: This easy to implement, low-cost program effectively involves patients and caregivers in reducing the incidence of RSV. It also enhances the staff’s ability to ensure quality patient care.