DNP: a 16-week quality improvement project completed on night shifts
Priya, 38 | Doctor of Nursing Practice | Public university, Southeast
The challenge
I had a CLABSI reduction project approved but no realistic plan to run four PDSA cycles while working three twelve-hour nights a week. My data was in three places and none of it was analyzable.
What we changed
- We built a single data collection workbook with automatic rate-per-1,000-catheter-days calculation.
- Each PDSA cycle was scheduled around my rota, with the write-up drafted in the week after each cycle rather than at the end.
- The sustainability plan was written into unit onboarding documents before the project ended, which my committee had flagged as a gap in a prior cohort.
The outcome
Infection rate fell from 2.1 to 0.7 per 1,000 catheter days and bundle compliance rose from 61% to 94%. The project passed without revision.
Writing each cycle up the week it finished is the only reason this got done. At the end I had a document, not a pile of notes.