AHRQ issues CAUTI prevention toolkit

Nov 19, 2015 - 03:26 PM

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
New AHA resource offers strategies to mitigate violence and promote a culture of safety 
A new issue brief from AHA’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative offers proven strategies and action steps to help hospitals and health systems’ violence…
Headline
AHA urges congressional support of health care programs in FY 2025 appropriations
AHA urged leaders of the Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education to give favorable funding…
Headline
DOJ announces task force on health care monopolies and collusion
The Department of Justice May 9 announced the formation of a task force focusing on competition concerns in health care. The unit, the Task Force on Health…
Headline
FDA issues final rule applying medical device rules to laboratory developed tests 
The Food and Drug Administration April 29 issued a final rule that would phase out its general enforcement discretion approach for most laboratory developed…
Headline
AHA blog shares ways to prevent pediatric sepsis
Pediatric sepsis is "an aggressive and unrelenting adversary that knows neither geographic nor demographic bounds," writes Chris DeRienzo, M.D., AHA’s senior…
Headline
Hospital studies identify better way to prescribe best antibiotic for patient
In clinical trials involving 220,000 patients at 59 HCA Healthcare hospitals, algorithm-driven computerized alerts helped clinicians better identify the…