MONTRÉAL (October 19, 2015)-- Many hospitalized patients have an indwelling urinary catheter (IUC), and previous studies have found up to one-third of IUCs are unneeded. A team of researchers from Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, implemented an intervention that decreased the use of IUCs in patients from 92.3 percent to just 15 percent, representing a 77.3 percent reduction in use.
Researchers implemented a three-step intervention to decrease urinary catheterization rates including an intense education program for the entire healthcare team, a prescribed listing of allowed indications for use, followed by additional step-downs in indication and sonographic bladder scanning to detect urinary retention.
"An intensive educational program with daily focus on appropriateness of IUC use can dramatically reduce use of ICUs in a MICU setting and can reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections," said Drs. Pavan Irukulla and Yizhak Kupfer, Maimonides Medical Center lead researchers.
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Further results will be shared during CHEST 2015 on October 28th, at 1:30 pm in the Exhibit Hall. The study abstract can be viewed on the CHEST website.
CHEST 2015 is the 81st annual meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians, held October 24-28, 2015, in Montréal, Canada. The American College of Chest Physicians, publisher of the journal CHEST, is the global leader in advancing best patient outcomes through innovative chest medicine education, clinical research, and team-based care. Its mission is to champion the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of chest diseases through education, communication, and research. It serves as an essential connection to clinical knowledge and resources for its 18,700 members from around the world who provide patient care in pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine. For more information about CHEST 2015, visit chestmeeting.chestnet.org, or follow the CHEST meeting hashtag, #CHEST2015, on social media.