Bedsize:
Number of licensed beds for a facility according to the Virginia Department of Health's Office of Licensure and Certification as of January 2009. Bedsize is used to categorize hospitals into three tiers (less than or equal to 200 beds, 201-500, and over 500 beds) to attempt to group facilities with similar characteristics together.
Central Line:
A central line is a flexible tube that is inserted near the patient's heart or into one of the large veins or arteries. The device can be used to give fluids, measure the amount of fluid in the body or to give medications. Because of the location, it can cause potentially serious bloodstream infections.
Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) Rates:
The central line infection rate refers to the number of infections per 1,000 central line days. Hospital data include adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients with a central line who developed an infection.
Central Line Days:
The numbers of days central lines are in place for patients in an intensive care unit. They are counted each day; each patient with one or more central lines at the time the count is performed is counted as one central line day.
Healthcare-Associated Infection:
A healthcare-associated infection is an infection that was not present or incubating at the time of admission to the hospital. Infections included in this report meet specific criteria developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU):
ICUs are hospital units that provide intensive observation and treatment for patients either dealing with, or at risk of developing, life threatening conditions. Intensive care units are described by the types of patients in them; smaller hospitals typically care for both medical and surgical patients in a medical/surgical ICU, while larger hospitals may have many ICUs.
Virginia Department of Health
Office of Epidemiology
109 Governor Street, Suite 516 East
Richmond, Virginia 23219
Contact us by Email
Phone: 804-864-8141 - Fax: 804-864-8139