The findings from this study can be utilised to design reform initiatives concerned with nurses' absenteeism and to decrease its negative consequences in terms of quality and cost.

Hematopoietic stem cells are generally transfused through a central venous catheter (CVC), which also facilitates administration of medications and intravenous fluids. We had observed a high rate of CVC infections at our Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT) unit. Accordingly, we evaluated the impact of administration of doxycycline as a prophylactic strategy to reduce CVC infection rates. Data was collected retrospectively on 54 consecutive patients, 26 who received doxycycline (doxycycline group), and we compared their outcomes to a previous cohort of 28 subjects who did not receive doxycycline (comparison group). The groups were comparable in regards to age, gender, transplant type, and CD34 cell dose. No (0%) CVC infection was observed in the doxycycline group, while 5 infection episodes (18%) occurred in 4 patients in the comparison group (p<0.001). Isolated organisms included: Escherichia-coli (EC)=1, coagulase-negative Staphylococcus-spp (CNSS)=2, both EC & CNSS=1. Notwithstanding the non-randomized comparative nature of our study, results suggest that CVC infection rate was reduced significantly after adding doxycycline for prophylaxis. A randomized controlled study is warranted to confirm these findings.