MedStar Georgetown recently received the Bronze Award at the District of Columbia Hospital Association’s (DCHA) 2023 Patient Safety & Quality Awards for its poster competition at the organization’s annual Patient Safety & Quality Summit. The poster is entitled “Impact of Supply Chain Disruption on CLABSIs in a Pediatric Transplant Unit.”

The poster outlined the efforts of a multidisciplinary team including Infection Prevention, Quality and Safety, Supply Chain, and the medical and nursing teams on C5-1. In response to a chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) swab product that was unavailable for approximately six months during the COVID-19 pandemic, this team worked diligently and creatively to find alternative processes and protocols to help continue preventing central line-associated blood stream infections (CLABSI) on the C5-1 pediatric transplant unit.

“This situation involved how we care for some of our smallest and sickest patients,” said Tara Millson, DNP, RN, CIC, FAPIC, director of Infection Prevention at MedStar Georgetown. “We really had to put all our heads together to be effective. Receiving this award on behalf of the involved MedStar Georgetown teams was an incredible acknowledgement from our peers in the District of our innovativeness during unprecedented product shortages during the pandemic. It is a testament to the care and brilliance of our associates and how, together, we can overcome any challenges.”

DCHA President and Chief Executive Officer Jacqueline D. Bowens remarked, “Their expertise and tireless efforts are instrumental in paving the way for an improved health care system to better serve patients and provide quality patient care.”