Health care-associated infections cause approximately 75,000 deaths annually, in addition to increasing morbidity and costs.

OBJECTIVES: To identify characteristics associated with particular groups of uropathogens in catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CA-UTI) and to develop clinical prediction rules for identifying these groups.

The purpose of this pilot study was to determine the inter-rater reliability of four clinical manifestations of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) among hospitalized adults with short-term indwelling urinary catheters using a tool developed for this purpose: the CAUTI Assessment Profile (CAP).

BACKGROUND: Manual surveillance of indwelling urinary catheters (IUCs) and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) is resource intense.

BACKGROUND: Retrospective medical record review is used to categorize urinary tract infections (UTIs) as symptomatic, catheter-associated, and/or healthcare-associated to generate National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) surveillance and claims data.

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive incidence estimates indicate that 1.7 million healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and 99,000 HAI-associated deaths occur in US hospitals.

BACKGROUND: The Interdisciplinary Academy for Coaching and Teamwork (I-ACT) was an advanced course aimed at educating leaders of a quality improvement project on addressing clinical challenges associated with catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), overcoming socioadaptive issues among a multidisciplinary team, and effective coaching.

Objective: To define the relationships between age, sex and hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates in a national cohort of hospitalized patients.

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - An estimated 1.7 million health care-associated infections occur in United States hospitals annually.^[1] Urinary tract infections are the most common.^[2]

Preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) remains a significant challenge for US hospitals.

Background: Little is known about racial and ethnic disparities in the occurrence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in hospitalized patients.

Objective: To determine whether racial/ethnic disparities exist in the rate of occurrence of HAIs captured in the Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System (MPSMS).

Methods: Chart-abstracted MPSMS data from randomly selected all-payer hospital discharges of adult patients (18 years old or above) between January 1, 2009, and December 31, 2011, for 3 common medical conditions: acute cardiovascular disease (composed of acute myocardial infarction and heart failure), pneumonia, and major surgery for 6 HAI measures (hospital-acquired antibiotic-associated Clostridium difficile, central line-associated bloodstream infections, postoperative pneumonia, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, hospital-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and ventilator-associated pneumonia).

Results: The study sample included 79,019 patients who had valid racial/ethnic information divided into 6 racial/ethnic groups-white non-Hispanic (n = 62,533), black non-Hispanic (n = 9,693), Hispanic (n = 4,681), Asian (n = 1,225), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (n = 94), and other (n = 793)-who were at risk for at least 1 HAI. The occurrence rate for HAIs was 1.1% for non-Hispanic white patients, 1.3% for non-Hispanic black patients, 1.5% for Hispanic patients, 1.8% for Asian patients, 1.7% for Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander patients, and 0.70% for other patients. Compared with white patients, the age/gender/comorbidity-adjusted odds ratios of occurrence of HAIs were 1.1 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.99-1.23), 1.3 (95% CI, 1.15-1.53), 1.4 (95% CI, 1.07-1.75), and 0.7 (95% CI, 0.40-1.12) for black, Hispanic, Asian, and a combined group of Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander and other patients, respectively.

Conclusions: Among patients hospitalized with acute cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, and major surgery, Asian and Hispanic patients had significantly higher rates of HAIs than white non-Hispanic patients.

Written by:
Bakullari A, Metersky ML, Wang Y, Eldridge N, Eckenrode S, Pandolfi MM, Jaser L, Galusha D, Moy E.   Are you the author?
Qualidigm, Wethersfield, Connecticut.

Reference: Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2014 Oct;35 Suppl 3:S10-6.
doi: 10.1086/677827

PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25222888

Objective: To examine regional variation in the use and appropriateness of indwelling urinary catheters and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).

BACKGROUND: Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are harmful and costly and can result in substantial morbidity for hospitalized children; however, little is known about national trends in HAIs in neonatal and pediatric populations.

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe.

Most biofilms involved in catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are polymicrobial, with disease causing (eg Escherichia coli) and atypical microorganisms (eg Delftia tsuruhatensis) frequently inhabiting the same catheter.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates clinical outcomes and cost-benefit analysis before and after implementation of a global environmental cleaning algorithm on all hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates.

Objective: To evaluate measures for preventing multidrug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MDRP) in catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) in spinal cord injury patients.

AIM: Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are the most common hospital-acquired infection in ICUs.

BACKGROUND: Eliminating catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) is at the forefront of quality improvement and cost reduction for payers and hospitals alike.

This column shares the best evidence-based strategies and innovative ideas on how to facilitate the implementing of EBP principles and processes by clinicians as well as nursing and interprofessional students.