An electronic catheter-associated urinary tract infection surveillance tool

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - These authors developed and validated an electronic surveillance tool for catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and successfully automated surveillance of CAUTIs in a large urban university hospital setting. They felt that the tool provided objective criteria to determine UTI surveillance. The tool captured urinary catheter days by unit and service. They were also able to document discrete start and stop times for the device, resulting in improved detection.

They felt the tool was successful as it helped increase surveillance and reporting demands, so they could focus more on implementing best practice preventing efforts at the bedside.

This article is one of many that detail the success of automating surveillance of CAUTI rates and catheter device days. A necessary component is the electronic health record.

Choudhuri JA, Pergamit RF, Chan JD, Schreuder AB, McNamara E, Lynch JB, Dellit TH

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2011 Aug;32(8):757-62

PubMed Abstract
PMID: 21768758