Toward eliminating catheter-associated urinary tract infections in an academic health center.
BACKGROUND
Eliminating catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) is at the forefront of quality improvement and cost reduction for payers and hospitals alike. Herein we describe a double-focused strategy to eliminate CAUTI's on a surgical oncology unit over the course of 24 mo.


METHODS
CAUTI's were tracked on a 30-bed surgical oncology unit 12 mo before and 12 mo after implementation of specific measures aimed at (1) decreasing utilization and (2) increasing catheter bundle and hand hygiene compliance. A policy of early Foley catheter removal was implemented. Univariate analyses were performed comparing nominal and numerical variables between the pre- and post-intervention groups.


RESULTS
The pre- and post-intervention groups comprised of 1376 and 1467 patients, respectively. Postintervention, there was a significant decrease in both total Foley (P = 0.02) and patient (P = 0.03) days. This resulted in a significant reduction in utilization rate from 0.28 to 0.24, (P < 0.0001) and median CAUTI rate from 4.6 to 0.0 (P = 0.03). Reduced CAUTIs were associated with significant improvements in monthly bundle compliance at ≥95% (75% versus 17%, P = 0.003) and hand hygiene compliance at ≥95% (92% versus 58%, P = 0.05). Among our thoracic epidural cohort (n = 11), three patients (27%) required reinsertion for urinary retention. None of these epidural patients were diagnosed with a CAUTI.


CONCLUSIONS
Although not eliminated entirely, CAUTIs on our unit were significantly reduced through decreased utilization and improved compliance to institutional patient safety measures. Adoption of these strategies to other inpatient units would not only improve patient safety but also result in significant cost savings.
['Kachare|Swapnil D|SD|', 'Sanders|Cheri|C|', 'Myatt|Kimberly|K|', 'Fitzgerald|Timothy L|TL|', 'Zervos|Emmanuel E|EE|']
D000046:Academic Medical Centers D005770:Gastrointestinal Neoplasms D063373:Hand Hygiene D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms D006801:Humans D017053:Infection Control D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic D058996:Quality Improvement D062606:Tertiary Care Centers D014546:Urinary Catheterization D014552:Urinary Tract Infections D014565:Urogenital Neoplasms
CAUTI Foley catheter Thoracic epidural Reinsertion