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Catheter removal key to infection prevention

Quality Improvement Monitor, December 14, 2007

Editor's note: This is the third part in a series about how to prevent some of the conditions CMS will no longer pay for beginning in October 2008.To prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections, make sure the catheter is sterile when inserted, maintain it properly to fend off backwash, and remove it as soon as possible. "What we find is that urinary catheter use is maintained longer than is necessary," says Michael Bell, MD, associate director for infection control for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "The utility of the urinary catheter sometimes ends up being more for convenience than for absolute medical need."

Even though it might require more effort to get somebody out of bed and into the bathroom instead of leaving a catheter in, it's work well spent. Not only will hospitals prevent more patients from developing urinary tract infections, they'll avoid a financial penalty from CMS down the line.

Beginning October 1, 2008, CMS will no longer pay for the costs to treat catheter-associated urinary tract infections patients develop in the hospital. And although urinary tract infections are only one of the eight preventable conditions the federal agency will no longer reimburse hospitals for, it is the condition causing the greatest concern among clinicians.

A survey of more than 800 hospitals by Premier, Inc., found that 49% of respondents cited catheter-associated urinary tract infections as the most challenging of the eight preventable hospital-acquired conditions.

Access the full story in the December issue of Quality Improvement Report; access is free for subscribers, nonsubscribers can purchase a copy of the story for $10.

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