Sustained reduction in catheter-associated urinary tract infections using multi-faceted strategies led by champions: A quality improvement initiative

Members of Duke Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology (IPHE)Duke Antimicrobial Stewardship and Evaluation Team (ASET), and Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON) lead a quality improvement initiative to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). 

Catheter-acquired urinary tract infections (UTIs) are one of the most common healthcare-acquired infections; they have gained national attention due to public reporting and reimbursement implications. Recent interventions to reduce CAUTIs have focused on “stewardship of culturing” or reducing inappropriate urine cultures in catheterized patients. Although many of these interventions focused on CAUTIs have been successful, sustainability of these prevention efforts has not been discussed widely. Our teams' goal was to review the impact and sustainability of a multifaceted intervention aimed at CAUTI reduction within 3 large, adult, intensive care units (ICUs) at Duke University Medical Center.

This review was published in the July edition of Infection Control & Epidemiology.

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