Kurin Helps Entire Health System Achieve 1%

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Four-Hospital Health System, Southern U.S.

Key Takeaways
A four-hospital health system in the southern US experienced a system-wide blood culture contamination (BCC) rate above 6.0% despite multiple interventions.

  • The implementation of Kurin ultimately resulted in system-wide savings greater than $12 million with sustained results well below national standards.
  • This case study highlights the steps this system took to finally achieve their goal of being below the 1% target.

Situation

  • Estimated $13.5M lost annually
  • Steripath ISDD reduced baseline 6.2% to 2.8%
  • Could not meet 1% target with Steripath product line
  • Introduced Kurin to increase compliance and system achieved 1% target

Baseline Performance

The system had a mean BCC rate of 6.2% across all four hospitals.

Pre-diversion interventions:

  • Education
  • Developed CLABSI Nurse Quality Team
  • Eliminated central line draws

The system implemented the Steripath® Initial Specimen Diversion Device (ISDD) trialing two products: Gen II and Micro.

  • Over 12 months, the Steripath ISDD lowered the system-wide BCC to an average of 2.85%.
  • The hospital attributed poor compliance to the device’s difficulty of use, and they were unable

to achieve the 1% target for BCC recommended by CLSI and CDC1,2

To improve compliance and further reduce BCC, the system adopted Kurin passive technology as an alternative intervention.

Kurin Implementation and Process

The system’s commitment to a process improvement framework laid the foundation for the successful implementation of the Kurin Lock®.

  • In-person and online resources aided adoption
  • Kurin Lock was integrated into standard kits and tracked compliance through EMR
  • Kurin Lock seamlessly integrated into hospital procedures

The comprehensive, device driven, implementation led to an immediate reduction in BCC rates.

Results

The adoption of Kurin led to a significant decrease in the system-wide contamination rate, declining to <1%.

  • This reduction from baseline results represents an estimated annual savings of $12.2M based on the average CDC cost of contamination1.
  • Switching from Steripath (2.85%) to Kurin (<1%) represents an additional estimated savings of $4.9M annually for the system.

Download a PDF of this study.

REFERENCES:
1 CDC. Blood Culture Contamination: An Overview for Infection Control and Antibiotic Stewardship Programs Working with the Clinical Laboratory. August 2022.
2 CLSI. Principles and Procedures for Blood Cultures. 2nd ed. CLSI guideline M47. Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute; 2022.