Question Description
I’m working on a nursing discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
The prevalence of catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) has increased on your hospital unit by 20% in the last two quarters. As a member of the Quality Improvement (QI) committee, collaborate with your committee colleagues from other disciplines to develop an interprofessional action plan. What would your clinical question be that guides your QI project?
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In one of three HAIs (healthcare associated infections) in patients in hospitals are CAUTIs. What are CAUTIs and does one become acquired with a CAUTI? A CAUTI is a catheter associated UTI and patients who develop CAUTIs would be because of prolonged use of the urinary catheter. As a nurse, one should know to use catheter need to be removed as they are no longer needed. To reduce the increased risks of the 20% of CAUTIs in the last two quarters; quality improvement committee will be in need of collaboration to develop an interprofessional action plan to determine how we are able to lower the risks of acquiring this infection.
To develop the clinical question for the quality improvement committee I will need to have these four components: population, intervention, comparison, and outcome. The components are also known as PICO. PICO provides a format that is effective is regards to helping nurses develop well, researchable clinical questions. The research that is used in PICO is used together with clinical capability and the patients perspective to confirm develop or revise nursing standards protocols, and policies that are used to plan and implement patient care (Cullum, 2000; Sackett et al., 2000 Thompson et al., 2004).
In box 2.3 on page 40 of the Nursing Research book developed by Gerri Loboiondo-Wood and Judith Haber, (2022) curated examples of clinical questions; what the impact of nursing teamwork on nurse-sensitive quality indicators? (Rahn, 2016). This question would be an example of what I would use to determine what we can do as the quality improvement committee how we are able to lower the risks of CAUTIs.
How this would come to light is to make sure that nursing teamwork collaborates with interprofessional partners to determine a way to know when catheters need to be taken out and how often catheters are being cleaned as well as proper documentation on cleaning and inspecting the catheters to ensure no change has occurred while the patient has a catheter.
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The clinical question guiding me as a quality improvement committee member is how the catheter insertions should be handled while inserting and removing.The most widely identified hospital-acquired illness is Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection, and the incidences are increasing (Carr et al., 2017). Therefore, as a member of the Quality Improvement committee, I would work alongside my committee counterparts from other disciplines to create an integrated action plan to limit these infections. One of the most effective therapies is the CAUTI bundle, which I recommend. Due to the CAUTI bundle’s adoption by several acute care hospitals, long-term care institutions, and rehabilitation centers, the bundle has been revealed to lower CAUTIs in various healthcare settings and services. The CAUTI package contains reminders, pictures, and checklists with the required clinical justifications for inserting an IUC. Competency exams for catheter placement, aseptic technique, documentation, maintenance, continuous catheter need monitoring, and catheter removal is also included.
How to involve the medical practitioners in reducing Catheter-Associated urinary tract Infection
Along with the CAUTI bundle, the nurse-driven approach can aid in lowering CAU rates for all patients. According to studies, early catheter removal with the nurse-driven method significantly decreases the incidence of CAUTI (Carr et al., 2017). The outcomes show that the rates of catheter infections are directly correlated with the use of an NDP, catheters, dwell duration, and other factors. The committee determined that adopting an NDP might give nurses more ability to advocate for patients who already had an IUC and quickly remove catheters from individuals who do not fit the requirements.
How can integrating health information technology help reduce Catheter-Associated urinary tract Infections?
Modern technology also provides healthcare professionals with various tools that may be utilized for project execution and assessment. (Yatim et al., 2016). Research shows that health information technology can effectively obtain and evaluate patient demographic information and the frequency of urinary catheters and dwell duration. Information technology is essential to project data gathering since it informs the project manager about the implementation’s efficacy. With several information technology apps, frontline workers may be reminded to review patients with an IUC and can be given information on catheter usage (Yatim et al., 2016).
