Mucosal barrier injury laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection: results from a field test of a new National Healthcare Safety Network definition.

OBJECTIVE: To assess challenges to implementation of a new National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance definition, mucosal barrier injury laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infection (MBI-LCBI).
DESIGN: Multicenter field test.
SETTING: Selected locations of acute care hospitals participating in NHSN central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) surveillance.
METHODS: Hospital staff augmented their CLABSI surveillance for 2 months to incorporate MBI-LCBI: a primary bloodstream infection due to a selected group of organisms in patients with either neutropenia or an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant with gastrointestinal graft-versus-host disease or diarrhea. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) staff reviewed submitted data to verify whether CLABSIs met MBI-LCBI criteria and summarized the descriptive epidemiology of cases reported.
RESULTS: Eight cancer, 2 pediatric, and 28 general acute care hospitals including 193 inpatient units (49% oncology/bone marrow transplant [BMT], 21% adult ward, 20% adult critical care, 6% pediatric, 4% step-down) conducted field testing. Among 906 positive blood cultures reviewed, 282 CLABSIs were identified. Of the 103 CLABSIs that also met MBI-LCBI criteria, 100 (97%) were reported from oncology/BMT locations. Agreement between hospital staff and CDC classification of reported CLABSIs as meeting the MBI-LCBI definition was high (90%; κ = 0.82). Most MBI-LCBIs (91%) occurred in patients meeting neutropenia criteria. Some hospitals indicated that their laboratories' methods of reporting cell counts prevented application of neutropenia criteria; revised neutropenia criteria were created using data from field testing.
CONCLUSIONS: Hospital staff applied the MBI-LCBI definition accurately. Field testing informed modifications for the January 2013 implementation of MBI-LCBI in the NHSN.