Skin Failure Among Critically Ill Patients Afflicted with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Objective: To characterize skin integrity among coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients treated in the intensive care unit (ICU), and identify risk factors for skin failure (SF) in these patients. Design: The characteristic, profound pro-inflammatory, hypercoagulable state of COVID-19 is manifested by the high severity of illness and extensive organ dysfunction observed in these patients. SF in critically ill patients, although described previously, exhibits a uniquely complex pathogenesis in this population. Patients: Retrospective review of all COVID-19 patients (confirmed positive for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 [SARS-CoV-2]) admitted to a single surgical ICU for at least 48 hours between March-June 2020. Interventions: Data were extracted from a COVID-19 institutional data repository that harvested data from electronic health records and other clinical data sources. Demographics; coagulation/inflammation biomarkers; number, location, and stage of SF lesions; resource utilization; and outcomes were captured. Measurements and Main Results: 64 patients met inclusion criteria; 51 (80%) developed SF (SF+ ). Forty-three (85%) developed stage 3 or higher SF (χ2 = 22.66, P < .0001). Thirty-nine of 51 (76%) SF+ patients developed more than one SF lesion (χ2 = 13.26, P = .0003). SF+ patients manifested a profound pro-inflammatory, hypercoagulable phenotype (lower serum albumin and higher ferritin, interleukin [IL]-6 and D-dimer concentrations [all, P < .001]). Durations of mechanical ventilation, vasopressor therapy, and ICU length of stay were significantly longer (all, P < .05) in the SF + patients. Conclusions: The unique characteristics of COVID-19 dermatopathology and the strong correlation between markers of inflammation and development of SF reflect COVID-19-related organ dysfunction and its deleterious effects on the microcirculation. Considering that skin is invaded directly by SARS-CoV-2 and affected by COVID-19-related immune complex deposition and microthrombosis, SF may reflect disease as opposed to pressure injuries related to processes of care. In the context of COVID-19 critical illness, SF should not be considered a “never event.”

Reflecting on why surgical swabs are being left behind and exploring how this could be prevented

Surgical swabs are routinely used by obstetricians and midwives to absorb blood during caesarean sections or perineal repairs following a vaginal birth. On rare occasions, a surgical swab can be left behind by mistake inside the patient's body. When an incident involving a retained swab occurs, this is declared a ‘never event’. Although a rare occurrence, a retained surgical swab is the source of high morbidity (infection, pain, secondary postpartum haemorrhage and psychological harm). It is also important to mention the financial burden and the legal implications affecting healthcare providers worldwide. Over the years, several strategies have been implemented in clinical practice to reduce such risk. However, none of these seem to provide a definitive answer. Having offered a brief overview of the evidence surrounding retained surgical swabs, this article presents an innovative approach based on creating a physical barrier by introducing an anchoring point linking the swabs together, making it physically impossible to leave one behind. At present, these modified swabs are undergoing development and testing.

Common general surgical never events: analysis of NHS England never event data

Background There is little available data on common general surgical never events (NEs). Lack of this information may have affected our attempts to reduce the incidence of these potentially serious clinical incidents. Objectives The purpose of this study was to identify common general surgical NEs from the data held by the National Health Service (NHS) England. Methods We analysed the NHS England NE data from April 2012 to February 2020 to identify common general surgical NEs. Results There was a total of 797 general surgical NEs identified under three main categories such as wrong-site surgery (n = 427; 53.58%), retained items post-procedure (n = 355; 44.54%) and wrong implant/prosthesis (n = 15; 1.88%). We identified a total of 56 common general surgical themes—25 each in the wrong-site surgery and retained foreign body categories and six in wrong implants category. Wrong skin condition surgery was the commonest wrong-site surgery (n = 117; 27.4%). There were 18 wrong-side chest drains (4.2%) and 18 (4.2%) wrong-side angioplasty/angiograms. There were seven (1.6%) instances of confusion in pilonidal/perianal/perineal surgeries and six (1.4%) instances of biopsy of the cervix rather than the colon or rectum. Retained surgical swabs were the most common retained items (n = 165; 46.5%). There were 28 (7.9%) laparoscopic retrieval bags with or without the specimen, 26 (7.3%) chest drain guide wires, 26 (7.3%) surgical needles and 9 (2.5%) surgical drains. Wrong stents were the most common (n = 9; 60%) wrong implants followed by wrong breast implants (n = 2; 13.3%). Conclusion This study found 56 common general surgical NEs. This information is not available to surgeons around the world. Increased awareness of these common themes of NEs may allow for the adoption of more effective and specific safeguards and ultimately help reduce their incidence.

Quality improvement project to eliminate the occurrence of never events during insertion of intrauterine contraception

AimThis project aimed to reduce the occurrence of never events during insertion of intrauterine contraception (IUC), within Central North West London NHS Foundation Trust (CNWL) clinics, to zero within 6 weeks.BackgroundCNWL provides sexual health services in seven London boroughs and Surrey. Approximately 5500 IUC are inserted annually. Over a period of 67 days between 7 December 2017 and 12 February 2018, three incidents were identified within CNWL involving the insertion of an intrauterine contraceptive that was different to that agreed with the patient. Several different types of IUCs are available, avoiding insertion of an incorrect IUC device is important as it could lead to unwanted side effects and swapping to the chosen device could lead to a repeat procedure with potential increased risks of infection and uterine perforation.Insertion of an incorrect IUC has been classified as a never event since January 2018 when NHS Improvement updated their never events list to include ‘insertion of an IUC different from the one in the procedural plan’. Never events are serious incidents that are preventable if appropriate systems are in place. There is currently no national guidance on how to reduce the risk of IUC never events but since inclusion of IUC events in the never event list the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health has been working to produce national guidance for safety standards for IUC insertion. In the interim, CNWL undertook a review of their local policies.Investigation and recommendationsFollowing the CNWL IUC never events, a root cause analysis investigation was conducted. A multidisciplinary team was convened to identify potential contributory factors. The main cause was identified as the lack of a standard process for confirming, documenting and double-checking the chosen IUC immediately prior to insertion. Other contributory factors included storage of similar IUC devices alongside each other and delayed access to a trained assistant in IUC clinics.Quality improvement (QI) methodology was used to help implement local system changes to reduce the risk of future errors. These included changes to IUC storage and the introduction of an IUC checklist to confirm the chosen device type during IUC insertions.Results and conclusionSince implementation of these changes 30 months ago there have been no further IUC never events within CNWL.QI methods have facilitated the successful introduction of local system changes that have reduced the occurrence of errors during IUC insertion.

238. Novel Way to Evaluate Antibiotic Use Appropriateness: Moving Towards the “Never Event” Classification by Electronic Algorithm

Background Antibiotic use is commonly tracked electronically by antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASPs). Traditionally, evaluating the appropriateness of antibiotic use requires time- and labor-intensive manual review of each drug order. A drug-specific “appropriateness” algorithm applied electronically would improve the efficiency of ASPs. We thus created an antibiotic “never event” (NE) algorithm to evaluate vancomycin use, and sought to determine the performance characteristics of the electronic data capture strategy. Methods An antibiotic NE algorithm was developed to characterize vancomycin use (Figure) at a large academic institution (1/2016–8/2019). Patients were electronically classified according to the NE algorithm using data abstracted from their electronic health record. Type 1 NEs, defined as continued use of vancomycin after a vancomycin non-susceptible pathogen was identified, were the focus of this analysis. Type 1 NEs identified by automated data capture were reviewed manually for accuracy by either an infectious diseases (ID) physician or an ID pharmacist. The positive predictive value (PPV) of the electronic data capture was determined. Antibiotic Never Event (NE) Algorithm to Characterize Vancomycin Use Results A total of 38,774 unique cases of vancomycin use were available for screening. Of these, 0.6% (n=225) had a vancomycin non-susceptible pathogen identified, and 12.4% (28/225) were classified as a Type 1 NE by automated data capture. All 28 cases included vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus spp (VRE). Upon manual review, 11 cases were determined to be true positives resulting in a PPV of 39.3%. Reasons for the 17 false positives are given in Table 1. Asymptomatic bacteriuria (ASB) due to VRE in scenarios where vancomycin was being appropriately used to treat a concomitant vancomycin-susceptible infection was the most common reason for false positivity, accounting for 64.7% of false positive cases. After removing urine culture source (n=15) from the algorithm, PPV improved to 53.8%. Conclusion An automated vancomycin NE algorithm identified 28 Type 1 NEs with a PPV of 39%. ASB was the most common cause of false positivity and removing urine culture as a source from the algorithm improved PPV. Future directions include evaluating Type 2 NEs (Figure) and prospective, real-time application of the algorithm. Disclosures Marc H. Scheetz, PharmD, MSc, Merck and Co. (Grant/Research Support)