Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection Reduction Strategy

Background: Hospital acquired catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) remain a problem contributing to death or extension of illnesses in patients in intensive care units each year. Rounding by staff and nurse leaders has been successful in increasing patient satisfaction and safety in hospitalized patients. The National Healthcare Safety Network reports that urinary tract infections are the most commonly occurring infection in critical care patients. Current efforts to reduce CAUTI are widely studied and only partially successful. Purpose: The purpose is to decrease CAUTI incidence by decreasing device utilization in five intensive care units in a suburban health system. Methods: Two questions focused on catheter removal were incorporated into the hardwired nurse leader rounds. Implementation Plan/Procedure: Using Rounds+ (TM), the added questions were loaded and deployed for ICU patients with indwelling urinary catheters for a period of 3 weeks. Implications/Conclusion: Although the device days did not decrease, multiple opportunities to use the nurse driven protocol were identified. Additionally, the greatest reason for maintaining the catheter was captured as strict intake and output measurement. Keywords: catheter associated urinary tract infections, intensive care unit infections, CAUTI, nurse leader rounds, hospital associated infections, indwelling urinary catheter.