Does a Nurse Led Surveillance Program Using a Verbal Reminder Intervention Impact Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection Rates?

Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) is a common occurring hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) secondary to the use of indwelling urinary catheters (IUCs). This DNP project evaluated the impact of a nurse-led surveillance program using a verbal reminder intervention on CAUTI rate, IUC days, and nurses’ knowledge of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) on CAUTI guidelines in a medical surgical unit in a large hospital in Texas. This study used a pre and post-test design. Control group data were obtained from a three-month retrospective CAUTI rate and IUC duration information from electronic medical records of discharged patients. The period reviewed was from October 2017 to December 2017. During the intervention period, nurses implemented a nurse-led surveillance program using a verbal reminder intervention to prompt timely removal of indwelling urinary catheters. Data collection included CAUTI incidents, IUC days, and improvement on nurses’ knowledge of the CDC CAUTI guidelines before and after implementation. Descriptive statistics of CAUTI incidents and IUC days were computed and analysed. The results show a decrease in CAUTI incidents from 1 for the pre-intervention group to 0 for the post-intervention group. The number of patients with IUCs for three days decreased from 36(30.51%) before implementation to 9 (7.63%) after implementation. T-test analysis was performed for Nurses’ knowledge using Minitab 18 Statistical Data Analysis Software. Nurses’ knowledge test revealed a significant improvement in mean scores from 77% before implementation to 91.5% after implementation.

Keywords: Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI); Lowa model; Medical-surgical unit; Indwelling urinary catheter; Nurse-led surveillance