What´s Catheter-Associated Infections?

Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), a major, yet preventable threat to patient safety, impose significant economic consequences on the nation’s healthcare system. An estimated 93,000 urinary tract infections and 71,000 bloodstream infections were identified from acute care hospitals (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2014). The student’s purpose is to differentiate two high priority outcome measure and the rationale for these outcomes. In addition, the student will hypothesize a new outcome that may become a priority.
Indwelling urinary catheters are widely used in the hospital and can be an appropriate means of therapeutic management under certain conditions. However, many utilized indwelling urinary catheters are without clear indications increasing the risk of complications, including catheter-associated urinary tract infections (Bernard, Hunter & Moore, 2012). Catheter-associated complications include physical and psychological discomfort to the patient, bladder calculi, renal inflammation, and most frequently, catheter-associated urinary tract infections. As a result, CAUTIs can impact the quality of life, place a financial burden on the health care system for treatment and increase the length of stay for the patient (Bernard, Hunter & Moore, 2012). According to Elpern, Killeen, Ketchem, Wiley, Patel, and Lateef (2009), “CAUTIs were selected by the Centers
CAUTIs are considered an avoidable complication, and unless patients had the