Targetting Zero CAUTIs

The article on the American Nurse Today website is a great example of how Quality Improvement can work in action to empower nurses and improve patient outcomes. By using a urinary catheter insertion decision tree, this nurse-driven quality improvement initiative has contributed to reducing the number of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)

UTI’s are the most common causes of hospital acquired infections, with 80%[1] of these are associated with catheter associated UTI’s, according to the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. CAUTI is linked to an increased hospital stay, worsening patient outcomes, and an increased health cost.

The Quality Improvement project, by Sentara Healthcare, linked below highlights how a quality improvement driven project improved the CAUTI rates in one hospital and how the project simultaneously allowed registered nurses the autonomy to operate to the top of their scope of practice: