Nurses who oversee central line catheter insertions can reduce the amount of bloodstream infections in surgery, according to a new study.

A presentation at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology conference in Baltimore, Maryland showed that those in nurse manager jobs should be appointing specialist infection control nurses (ICN) to oversee wards and care units to cut the risk of infection.

Nursing Times cites the study, which showed nurses on a surgical intensive care unit at the University of Maryland Medical Center SICU managed to cut bloodstream infections to zero during a six month period.

At the start of the study, the hospital appointed ICN's to oversee central line catheter insertions on the 19 bed unit in order to address previous central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs). Overall, 14 CLABSIs were eliminated and two to three lives were saved when compared to the same time last year, cites MedIndia.

Michael Anne Preas, co-leader of the improvement project and an infection prevention nurse, expressed his delight at the role of nurses in the experiment: "It was truly a back-to-basics effort - these were just best practices at a granular level, led by the unit themselves. The nurses on the unit took ownership of best practices and drove the change."