APIC Releases Updated Guide to Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

In response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) listing urinary tract infections as one of the five most common types of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in the U.S., the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has issued an updated Implementation Guide, available as a free, online download to help healthcare organizations prevent these infections in their patients.

The new edition of the Guide to Preventing Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) expands on the 2008 Elimination Guide and contains updated content on the epidemiology and causes of CAUTI, as well as detailed information on surveillance and reporting. Developed by a team of infection prevention experts, the guide also features new content that addresses patient safety, the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP), and other behavioral models for CAUTI prevention. Additionally, this guide includes new information on CAUTI prevention in special populations, including pediatric, spinal cord injury, long-term care, and intensive care unit patients.

“CAUTIs have been associated with increased morbidity, mortality, hospital cost, and length of stay,” says lead author Kristi Felix, BA, RN, CRRN, CIC, infection prevention coordinator of Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Neb. “Furthermore, they often require antibiotics, contributing to unnecessary use of antibiotics and the problem of antibiotic resistance.”

An estimated 17 to 69 percent of CAUTI could be prevented, totaling 380,000 infections and 9,000 deaths related to CAUTI per year. Best practices on CAUTI prevention, as well as prevention case studies, are included in this updated implementation guide.

Distribution of this guide as a full access online resource from the APIC website is made possible by the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) through the national On the CUSP: Stop CAUTI project. On the CUSP: Stop CAUTI aims to reduce mean rates of CAUTI in U.S. hospitals by 25 percent. The initiative is working with APIC, state organizations, and more than 900 hospital units in 41 states across the country to implement the CUSP and CAUTI reduction practices.

APIC Implementation Guides (formerly Elimination Guides) provide practical, evidence-based strategies for surveillance and elimination of infection. Implementation Guides are created to provide infection preventionists with practical, “how-to” information and online tools and resources that encompass the latest research and regulatory requirements. Open access ensures that this information, critical to the care of patients, is available to the widest possible audience.

Source: APIC