Commentaries - Insights, highlights, and reviews by Diane Newman

Perceived impact of the Medicare policy to adjust payment for health care-associated infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This was a national survey of infection prevention, conducted in December 2010, taken using a random sample of hospitals. The…

New strategies to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an excellent review article, primarily on the prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). The…

A comparison of 3 metrics to identify health care-associated infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The authors of this study compare 3 metrics to identify catheter-associated blood stream infections, catheter-associated urinary…

Proteus mirabilis biofilms and catheter-associated urinary tract infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an interesting article as it looks at the fact that the bacterium Proteus significantly contributes to the adherence and…

Does nonpayment for hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections lead to overtesting and increased antimicrobial prescribing?

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This was a retrospective multicenter cohort study with a time analysis of all adults admitted to the hospital sixteen months…

Update on biofilm infections in the urinary tract

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is a literature search regarding biofilm formation and the role of biofilms in genitourinary infections. Biofilm is defined…

Reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections in home care: A performance improvement project

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an important article as it discusses a performance improvement project to decrease CAUTIS in a home care setting.

Antibiotic prophylaxis in catheter-associated urinary infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This article looked at prophylactic use of antibiotics to prevent infections with medium and long term urinary catheterization.

Catheter-associated urinary tract infection

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is a thorough review article on the current state of CAUTIs, providing a table on recommendations of CDC, EAU, IDSA, HICPAC,…

Preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infections in acute care: The bundle approach

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - Over an 8-month period, a multidisciplinary team at a veterans affairs medical center implemented evidence-based guidelines…

Evaluation of healthcare-associated infection surveillance in Pennsylvania hospitals

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This article presents the results of an online survey sent to infection preventionists (IPs) in all Pennsylvania hospitals. In…

Prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections in patients with hip fractures through education of nurses to specific catheter protocols

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is a detailed report of an evidence-based practice change project involving education of nurses on specific catheter…

Indwelling urinary catheter management and catheter-associated urinary tract infection prevention practices in Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders hospitals

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - A descriptive design was used to survey NICHE (Nurses Improving the Care of Healthsystem Elders) hospital nurse coordinators…

APIC 2012 - Decreasing catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) using the BREAKTHROUGH (LEAN) method - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - The authors reported on systemic strategies to decrease CAUTI rates in a large public hospital corporation in East Harlem, New…

APIC 2012 - Improving the management of orthopedic surgical patients with indwelling urinary catheters using a systematic evidence based approach - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - This poster presented an infectious controlled risk assessment performed at an elective orthopedic hospital. A review of data…

APIC 2012 - Automatic Foley catheter stop order - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - Automatic stop orders have been shown to be successful, and this poster added to the evidence. It describes a program…

APIC 2012 - A nurse driven Foley catheter removal protocol proves clinically effective to reduce the incidence of catheter related urinary tract infections - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - This poster presented the data from a nurse-driven Foley catheter removal protocol diagram implemented in this Kentucky…

APIC 2012 - A CAUTI bundle with a twist - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - Like many hospitals, this long-term care VA facility struggled with high incidence rates of CAUTIs. This project was a…

APIC 2012 - Success in preventing catheter associated urinary tract infection: What works - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - This poster reported on a collaborative multidisciplinary effort (the CAUTI Prevention Team) to reduce CAUTIs in a community…

APIC 2012 - Reduction and induration of postoperative catheter use following implementation of an electric reminder system - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - This poster showed the benefit of electronic reminders for prompt indwelling urinary catheter (IUC) removal. Such a reminder…

APIC 2012 - An interdisciplinary approach towards reducing the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections in an acute facility - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - Quality improvement processes for indwelling urinary catheters are increasingly being reported. This presentation addressed a…

APIC 2012 - Reduction of catheter-associated urinary tract infections by bundling interventions at community hospital - Session Highlights

SAN ANTONIO, TX USA (UroToday) - A bundle is a set of evidence-based procedures that are designed to be implemented together to optimize treatment, prevent or…

Designing a protocol to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections among hospitalized patients

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The authors describe a 5-step process called "IAIMS" (identifying, assessing, implementing, modifying/maintaining,…

Ins and outs of suprapubic catheters--a clinician's experience

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is a very good article on the insertion and post insertion care of a suprapubic (SP) urinary catheter and it is an important…

A review of strategies to decrease the duration of indwelling urethral catheters and potentially reduce the incidence of catheter-associated urinary tract infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This article is a review of the current literature for evidence-based research on the use of indwelling urinary (Foley) catheters…

Preventing infection in elders with long-term indwelling urinary catheters

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is a very nice review of ways to prevent catheter associated UTIs.

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) report, data summary of 36 countries, for 2004-2009

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an updated report of data on device-associated health care-associated infections in ICUs collected by hospitals…

Device-associated infection rates in adult intensive care units of Cuban university hospitals: International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) findings

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is one of several reports that addresses device-associated infection rates in ICUs from around the world.

Device-associated infection rates in 398 intensive care units in Shanghai, China: International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) findings

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an interesting article as it shows that device-associated infections are a problem worldwide. The study was conducted in…

Accuracy of a urinary catheter surveillance protocol

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The authors compared two methods for collecting urinary catheter data over a six-month period, on twelve units, at a VA hospital…

Nurse-directed interventions to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - These authors conducted a quality improvement project to test the impact of nurse-driven interventions to reduce CAUTIs in two…

Introducing a population-based outcome measure to evaluate the effect of interventions to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infection

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This analysis is by well-known experts in the area of CAUTIs. The authors used computer-based Monte Carlo simulation to compare…

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)…

Urinary tract infections in patients admitted to rehabilitation from acute care settings: A descriptive research study

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This study was a descriptive research examination of patients newly admitted to the acute care rehab unit in a moderately-sized…

Trends in catheter-associated urinary tract infections in adult intensive care units-United States, 1990-2007

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - These authors examined changes in rates of CAUTI events in adult intensive care units in the United States from 1990 through…

Inappropriate use of urinary catheters: A prospective observational study

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - These authors performed a prospective study, using predetermined clinical criteria, to examine the inappropriateness of urinary…

The encrustation and blockage of long-term indwelling bladder catheters: A way forward in prevention and control

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an excellent article that discusses encrustations, a major problem in patients with a long-term indwelling urinary…

Preventing hospital-acquired infections: A national survey of practices reported by U.S. hospitals in 2005 and 2009

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is an interesting article as it analyzes whether the use of preventive practices to decrease hospital-acquired infections…

Introducing the patient safety professional: Why, what, who, how, and where?

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This is a very provocative article as the authors recommend a new type of clinical role in the acute care setting - the patient…

Reducing Rates of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection

Since 2008, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has held acute-care hospitals accountable for failing to avert preventable harms resulting from…

Estimating the proportion of healthcare-associated infections that are reasonably preventable and the related mortality and costs

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - CAUTIs are a major source of hospital acquired infections (HAIs) and negatively impact patient safety. Evidence-based guidelines…

Feasibility of audit and feedback to reduce postoperative urinary catheter duration

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - The way for any institution to reduce CAUTI rates is to reduce indwelling (Foley) urinary catheter (IUC) use and/or to remove the…

Reporting catheter-associated urinary tract infections: Denominator matters

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - A hospital-wide surveillance program for tracking CAUTIs usually includes monitoring the UTI rate and device days. An electronic…

The network approach for prevention of healthcare-associated infections: Long-term effect of participation in the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - An interesting strategy for infection prevention is the formation of an “infection control network” as described by Anderson et…