Research Article

Changing Behavior among Nurses to Track Indwelling Urinary Catheters in Hospitalized Patients

Table 1

Our targeted educational curriculum consisted of five sessions. Each session provided a format of didactic and open discussion components and opportunities for hands-on learning. The participants were inpatient nurse providers, and sessions were led by a QI educator, and nurse project champions.

Session I: introduction
(i) Review Quality Improvement (QI) principles and practice
(ii) Review main project goals:
 (a) Increase inpatient provider awareness of catheters
 (b) Increase provider awareness of catheter-associated urinary
  tract infections (CAUTIs)
 (c) Minimize contamination during clinical sample collection
(iii) Introduce Indwelling Urinary Catheter (IUC) Tags
(iv) Open discussion: nurses role in addressing CAUTIs

Session II: nursing role in CAUTI prevention
(i) Review of the pathophysiology and clinical impact of CAUTIs
(ii) Review of existing hospital-based Infection Control guidelines
(iii) Review appropriate techniques for collection of urine culture
(iv) Open discussion: Risk-reduction strategies in catheter care management

Session III: case-study presentation
(i) Highlight the clinical impact of CAUTIs, including detailed review of the following:
 (a) Medical indication for catheterization
 (b) Correlation of prolonged catheterization and CAUTI development
 (c) Importance of sample collection in context of culture interpretation
(ii) Open discussion: role of catheter-care in improving health outcomes

Session IV: hands-on microbiology
(i) Review basics of sterile technique with emphasis on hand hygiene
(ii) Introduce microbiologic culture in context of urine sampling
(iii) Review pathogens commonly associated with CAUTIs
(iv) Swab hands and hospital surfaces onto 5% sheep blood agar
(v) Open discussion: minimize contamination during clinical sample collection

Session V: educational review
(i) Active participation in board-game to review cumulative knowledge of Sessions I–IV
(ii) Open discussion: nurses role in implementing QI efforts addressing CAUTIs