Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example

Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example(CAUTIs)

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs) are common among inpatients who use a catheter to drain the bladder for several reasons, including diagnostic, therapeutic, or convenience. The inability to drain the bladder can arise from multiple factors, including urinary inconsistency or retention, prostrate or genital surgery, spinal cord injury, multiple sclerosis, or dement. CAUTIs occur as a result of infection of the urinary tract by germs through the catheter.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The infections occur during catheter insertion when drainage bag is not emptied correctly, irregular cleaning, backflow of urine in the catheter bag, or when bacteria from bowel moment cause contamination. More than 70% of Urinary Tract infections in hospitals are associated with CAUTIs (Clarke et al., 2019). Besides, CAUTIs are associated with high operating costs and are also life-threatening. These statistics make CAUTI among the top causes of hospital-acquired infections in the US. Therefore, this essay provides an executive summary of a proposed CAUTI prevention program.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Purpose

The purpose of this quality improvement initiative is to Prevent Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in hospitals. The prevention program will assess the impact of CAUTI’s on patient’s health and establish a prevention initiative to address the problem. The program will include hand hygiene, clinical equipment, and environmental hygiene, compliance with infection prevention and control protocols (ICP), and continence care.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Target Population

The target population for this quality improvement initiative includes hospital administration, the medical personnel, and all patients who use a catheter in hospitals, including their families. The target population will be represented in the implementation of the improvement initiative. Through intensive awareness campaigns and practical education, the target population will be presented with the necessary information and resources to facilitate the success of this proposed program.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The Benefits

Improving IPC is a vital measure towards addressing the threat of hospital-acquired infections and the associated antimicrobial resistance (Atkins et al., 2020). With this in mind, the proposed quality improvement initiative will help reduce CAUTIs, poor health, associated clinical costs, and reduced antibiotic use. Besides, it will provide a platform for effective catheter insertion and removal and patient satisfaction enhanced through training for catheter care. Furthermore, training contents, including in-service education, self-guided learning, new employee orientation, and skills update competency, will be vital in maintaining staff competency. These training bundles will further improve prevention measures against CAUTIs not only for the present time but also for the future.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Interprofessional Collaboration

The quality improvement initiative will be spearheaded by a team that constitutes individuals from different hospital departments and expertise and quality care networks. The core members of the multidisciplinary team will include patients’ representatives, the medical team and management, and healthcare quality personnel to sustain the improvement made. According to Mody et al. (2017), a multidisciplinary approach is crucial for implementing a large-scale quality improvement project. During the quality improvement process, the team will work together to reduce the hospital’s CAUTI statistics. The team will meet monthly to present and evaluate success and barriers to the adopted initiatives over the implementation period.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Core to the interprofessional collaboration is departmental leaders directly responsible for the activities whose results can increase CAUTIs. Leaders are respected members of a medical facility and will be crucial in implementing the improvement plan (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2017). The healthcare leadership will promote CAUTI reduction and hygiene culture goals. This will ensure that any activity associated with the quality improvement is completed. Besides, the leadership will coordinate monitoring and sharing progress towards achieving CAUTI reduction, reviewing improvement plans, and developing education and awareness campaign plans. On the other hand, the medical personnel will be involved in compliance with infection prevention and control protocols.  (Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The Cost or Budget Justification

The quality improvement initiative will include expenses related to daily hospital hygiene and a stipend to the core member for carrying out the implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of the proposed quality improvement initiative. This initiative is justifiable considering the increasing amount of avoidable hospital expenses associated with lengthy hospital stays due to CAUTIs, antimicrobial therapy costs, and expenses involved in purchasing catheters.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

The basis for evaluation

The core team will evaluate the success of the CAUTI prevention initiatives. The basis for evaluation will include the reduction in the usage of inpatient catheters, the rate of hand hygiene, the rate of CAUTI cases, the amount expenses related to CAUTI, the average amount of time patients use catheters, compliance to the infection prevention and control protocols (ICP), and continence care. Besides, stakeholders, including patients, their families, and medical personnel, will be evaluated through monthly surveys and feedback mechanisms for awareness and perception concerning the CAUTI quality improvement initiatives.(Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

Conclusion

A CAUTI prevention program will play a crucial role in reducing mortality associated with hospital-acquired infections, avoidable hospital expenses, and patient wellbeing and satisfaction. Moreover, a multidisciplinary approach will be crucial to effective adoption, implementation, maintenance, and appraisal of the efficacy of the proposed quality improvement initiative. Besides, the budget for the CAUTI prevention initiative is justified considering its patient and the cost-control benefits. Therefore, the proposed CAUTI prevention initiative is affordable and warranted due to its contribution to family- and patient-centered care.   (Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections Comprehensive Nursing Essay Example)

References

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2017). Guide to Implementing a Program To Reduce Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in Long-Term Care. Retrieved on 30 April, from https://www.ahrq.gov/hai/quality/tools/cauti-ltc/modules/implementation/guide.html

Atkins, L., Sallis, A., Chadborn, T., Shaw, K., Schneider, A., Hopkins, S., & Lorencatto, F. (2020). Reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections: a systematic review of barriers and facilitators and strategic behavioral analysis of interventions. Implementation Science, 15(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13012-020-01001-2

Clarke, K., Hall, C. L., Wiley, Z., Tejedor, S. C., Kim, J. S., Reif, L., … & Jacob, J. T. (2019). Catheter-associated urinary tract infections in adults: diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. J. Hosp. Med, 14, E1-E5. https://doi.10.12788/jhm.3292   Mody, L., Greene, M. T., Meddings, J., Krein, S. L., McNamara, S. E., Trautner, B. W., & Saint, S. (2017). A national implementation project to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection in nursing home residents. JAMA internal medicine, 177(8), 1154-1162. https://doi.10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.1689