Inside the program: Diagnosing a CAUTI
HCPro's Weekly Update on the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®*, March 15, 2010
A catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is diagnosed only when signs and symptoms of an infection coexist with evidence of bacteriuria (>100,000 colony-forming units per ml [CFU/ml] and a host response to the presence of bacteriuria [diagnosed on urinalysis as pyuria]). Asymptomatic bacteriuria is not routinely treated in the catheterized patient, regardless of whether it occurs in the critical care unit, inpatient hospital unit, or long-term care facility.
Treatment should not occur even when asymptomatic bacteriuria coexists with pyuria. Patients with indwelling urinary catheters typically develop pyuria because of the inflammation associated with the presence of the catheter itself. Asymptomatic bacteriuria is treated only in highly selected cases, such as patients undergoing certain abdominopelvic or urologic procedures, or selected immunocompromised patients.
Signs and symptoms of a CAUTI include the presence of two or more of the following:
- Fever (> 2.0?F or > 1.1?C)
- Flank, abdominal, or suprapubic tenderness
- Change in urine character
- Hematuria
- Sudden change in mental or functional status (CMS 2008)
Related Products
-
HCPro's Guide to Assessing, Pursuing, and Achieving Excellence
Begin your journey to designation or redesignation with this fully updated book and CD-ROM. You'll gain an understanding of...
-
HCPro's E-Mail Tools for the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program®, 2nd Edition
This resource provides you with 52 customizable e-mails you can send to staff each week to communicate the history, value...
-
The Project Director's Toolkit, Second Edition
Full of helpful tools, The Project Director's Toolkit: HCPro's Guide to Collecting Evidence and Writing Narratives for the...
-
Nursing-Sensitive Quality Indicators:
This 90-minute webcast discusses the nurse's role in quality improvement and offers practical tips to help you collect and...
-
Proven Methods for Drastically Reducing CAUTIs
Join nurse practitioner Mikel Gray, PhD, PNP, FNP, CUNP CCCN, FAANP, FAAN, and chief of infection prevention and 2012 APIC...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Topic: CMS, OESS post new security compliance review information, checklist
- HIPAA Q&A: Answering service messages
- News and briefs: Oklahoma Osteopathic Association against residency bill change
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- QA:Coding multiple initial infusions
- Catch up on what's new with injections and infusions
- Capturing all necessary codes for IUD insertion and removal can be challenging
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- E-mailed
-
- Featured blog post: Nurses face felony charges after reporting physician to the Texas Medical Board
- Q/A: Volume requirement for reporting hydration services
- Are your workforce members texting PHI?
- Avoid the trap of probable diagnoses
- Arkansas woman convicted for HIPAA violation
- Q&A: Coding 'aspiration without pneumonia'
- Q&A tackles coding questions about injections and infusions
- New conflicts of interest create new challenges
- Joint Commission Center announces handoff communication solutions
- Inside best practice: Reduce patient falls with a stoplight
- Searched