The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality today released a toolkit to help hospitals prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections, which is based on an AHRQ program administered by the AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust, among others. More than 1,200 hospitals participated in the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program, launched in 2011, which reduced CAUTI rates by about 15%, according to preliminary results. The program also reduced other healthcare-associated infections, such as central line-associated bloodstream infections. The CAUTI toolkit includes checklists and modifiable teaching tools to help clinical teams and resident physicians and nurses in intensive care units adhere to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines that call for urinary catheters to be removed as soon as possible. “We used this toolkit to take a fresh look at our entire approach to the use of catheters,” said Cheryl Davis, R.N., senior nurse epidemiologist in the Infection Prevention Department of Saint Luke’s Hospital, Kansas City, MO. “Not only have we reduced CAUTI rates, but we’ve also reduced catheter use overall, which makes patients significantly safer and more comfortable.”

Related News Articles

Headline
The Department of Health and Human Services July 23 announced it is recommending the removal of thimerosal from all U.S. flu vaccines. The announcement follows…
Headline
Carolyn Bogard, DNP, R.N., director of care coordination and palliative care at El Camino Health, talks about her system’s use of data to harness the passion…
Headline
Hartford HealthCare in Hartford, Conn., will receive the 2025 AHA Quest for Quality Prize as a result of their sweeping transformation over the past decade —…
Headline
A Q&A in the July edition of AHA Trustee Insights features leaders from Winchester Hospital in Massachusetts discussing the importance of board members…
Headline
To help hospitals across the country improve sepsis care, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention created the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements,…
Headline
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention July 7 announced it is streamlining H5N1 bird flu updates with its routine influenza data given the low public…