Chair File: Educating Clinicians, Patients to Prevent CAUTI

Quality and safety are “top of the agenda” at urban and rural hospitals across the country. At Howard Memorial Hospital, a 20-bed critical access hospital in Nashville, Ark., a multidisciplinary team led a focused project to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). Educating nurses and physicians, as well as patients and families, about the appropriate use of Foley catheters was key. The hospital educates all staff on ways to avoid catheter insertions; conducts in-services on aseptic techniques for insertion and removal; gives staff laminated “pocket cards” with a reminder of appropriate reasons for catheter insertion; and has marked “STOP” at the top of Foley packages, which alerts nurses to stop and consider if a catheter is being placed for an appropriate reason. Engaging patients and families also is important, particularly to explain why a catheter is not being used. The hospital's infection control team observes and tracks progress with daily monitoring and chart review. As a result, the number of catheter days decreased from 932 in 2012 to 358, as of September 2016.

For more information, contact Gayla Beaird, infection preventionist, at gaylab@howardmemorial.com or Beth Schooley, director of performance improvement, at beths@howardmemorial.com. A storyboard and video about Howard Memorial Hospital's work preventing CAUTI is available at www.hret-hen.org.