In today's hospital environment, good care has become synonymous with positive patient outcomes. Marring this landscape is the alarming rate of hospital acquired (nosocomial) infections. Urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common hospital acquired infections. The major cause associated with these infections is the use of indwelling urinary catheters. Bacteria invade the lower urinary tract by ascending through or around the catheter. Morbidity associated with urinary catheter-associated UTI can be minimized by prudent decisions concerning catheter usage and good catheter care. The principle route of dispersal of nosocomial infections is likely from patient-to-patient via transiently contaminated hands of hospital personnel. The purpose of this evidence-based project was to determine if hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates among patients admitted to an acute care facility could be decreased through staff education and consistent application of nursing care using selected perineal infection control interventions.
The setting was a 43-bed medical/surgical floor in a 321 bed not for profit Magnet hospital in Northeast Florida. Twenty-four registered nurses and 18 patient care technicians completed targeted in-service education on general nosocomial infections, perineal care, and hand hygiene. A catheter dwell time notification system was also implemented. Chart review data was obtained from 383 admissions (197 pre-intervention, 133 after the educational intervention, and 53 after the dwell time notification). There was a significant difference in catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates after the interventions (11.17 pre-intervention, 10.53 after the educational intervention and 0.392 after the dwell time notification). A longer length of time in practice an on this hospital unit was associated with lower infection rates.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unf.edu/oai:digitalcommons.unf.edu:etd-1334 |
| Date | 01 January 2009 |
| Creators | Smith, Sharon Lanier |
| Publisher | UNF Digital Commons |
| Source Sets | University of North Florida |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | UNF Theses and Dissertations |
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