Surveillance and utilization of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) in general wards

Abstract

From May 2016, I was assigned to Mitsubishi Kobe hospital as a full─time infection control specialist. Mitsubishi Kobe hospital is a reginal core hospital with 188 beds (4 wards) and a substantial staff assignment of 7：1. Many problems of urinary catheter management were observed in the ward round. We planned a study group and conducted a questionnaire survey on catheter─Associated urinary tract infection countermeasures before and after that to verify whether it led to improvement of knowledge and behavior. At the same time, we examined whether the occurrence rate of CAUTI and the usage rate of equipment can be reduced by planning, implementing and CAUTI surveillance for the problems. The device usage ratio decreased from 0.15 before the intervention to 0.09 after the intervention. We were able to reduce the device usage ratio than before intervention. CAUTI incidence increased from 1.2 before intervention to 3.8 after intervention. The reason for the significant increase in the incidence of CAUTI after the intervention was that even if the patient had fever and CAUTI was suspected, a urine culture test was not submitted and catheter removal and antibacterial treatment were performed. This is probably because it was not implemented.