CentraState Medical Center’s ICU/CCU nurse manager Anne Shelton, MSN, BSN, CCRN, was recently selected by the Health Research & Educational Trust of the American Hospital Association and the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality to participate on a Technical Expert Panel committee for a national collaborative.
The AHRQ Safety Program for Intensive Care Units: Preventing Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infection (and Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection is a quality improvement program that targets ICUs with persistently elevated infection rates in the United States, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. This program will run over the next two years with the aim of improving infection rates throughout the country.
As a TEP committee member, Shelton will work with other nationally recognized and well-respected experts in the areas of patient safety, quality improvement, healthcare-associated infections, teamwork and change implementation, as well as stakeholder representatives over the next two years. She will work with the committee to provide input to the national project team based on her knowledge and experience to help guide the implementation and assessment of interventions to reduce infections.
Shelton, a nurse manager in critical care for more than 36 years, received her BSN and MSN at Thomas Edison State University. She earned a seat on this panel based on her years of experience and efforts in spearheading CentraState’s participation in the CUSP program through the NJHA – for which CentraState received recognition for the most improved scores at the end of the collaborative. Shelton was also instrumental in CentraState’s participation in the NJHA Sepsis Collaborative and helped to develop a checklist to identify the early signs and symptoms of sepsis and instituted steps to improve outcomes through timely identification, early fluid resuscitation, antibiotic administration and appropriate lab work.
In 2016, Shelton was asked to be the clinical liaison for the CAUTI/CLABSI Initiative through the NJHA for the state. This opportunity provided her with insight into the challenges organizations face throughout the state, including providing evidence-based care that will reduce the potential for harm to all patients.
