Patient Safety Update: Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

Patient Safety Update: Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

Patient Safety Update: Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) sent this bulletin at 09/24/2013 01:50 PM EDT

AHRQ Releases Interim Data on a National Project to Eliminate Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections

AHRQ has released an interim data report on a nationwide effort to promote the use of the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) in U.S. hospitals. Hospital units that have completed 14 months of CUSP implementation have achieved an average 16 percent reduction in the CAUTI rate. CUSP combines general approaches to improve safety culture, teamwork, and communications in a particular unit or hospital coupled with evidence-based interventions focusing on the technical aspects of CAUTI prevention. Eliminating CAUTI: A National Patient Safety Imperative reports on the progress of the national On the CUSP: Stop CAUTI project, which aims to reduce the CAUTI rate in participating hospital units by the end of the 4-year project. The collaboration is led by the Health Research & Educational Trust and its partners, the Michigan Health & Hospital Association’s Keystone Center for Patient Safety & Quality, St. John Hospital and Medical Center, the University of Michigan Health System, and the Johns Hopkins Medicine Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality. The progress made toward achieving the project’s stated goals is encouraging, and it indicates that focused attention on reducing CAUTI using an effective approach like CUSP can have significant impact.

To download Eliminating CAUTI: A National Patient Safety Imperative—Interim Data Report on the National “On the CUSP: Stop CAUTI” Project, go to: http://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/quality-patient-safety/cusp/cauti-interim/index.html.