Indwelling Catheters and their Relation To Urinary Tract Infections Essay

Indwelling Catheters and their Relation To Urinary Tract Infections - Essay Example Catheter- associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are caused by bacterial infections (e.g. Escherichia Coli), which is the common bacteria (Lindsay, E. 2001). In our place of practice, which is a nursing home facility, there have been significant increase in the amount of catheter and non-catheter related urinary tract infections in the patients undergoing treatment in the hospital. Research has shown that5% of patients that come to the hospital per day has urinary tract infection. Common endemic infection outbreaks as well as colonization and infection with antimicrobial drug resistant microorganisms have become a common feature within long term care facilities (Lindsay, E. 2001, pg. 205). Catheter associated urinary tract infections entail increased morbidity, mortality and financial costs. The nursing home facility has a protocol in place to reduce the number of UTIs, but it is rarely being utilized, and, therefore the system needs to be modified. CAUTIs can be reduced by rem oving the catheters upon arrival to the facility. Health care professional must assess the patients for the prevalence of UTIs, since this is a very common infection within nursing home facilities. ... Working in a nursing home and rehabilitation (NH/R) sub-acute environment has many challenges deriving from staffing problems, such as shortfall in nurse to patient ratio of 14 to 20 besides the chances of endemic infections. My main concern is the increased rate of urinary tract infections in patients with urinary catheters whether it is from the hospital or in-house (NH/R). In my facility, newly admitted patients from hospitals have or had indwelling catheters. Within 48 hours of admission, a few of the patients have showed signs and symptoms of urinary tract infection such as fever, abdominal tenderness and frequent need for urination with complaints of burning sensation. In such cases, the normal practice is to commence the administration of antibiotics prophylactically after collecting their urine specimens. The elderly are prone to a decrease in fluid intake due to a decline in the thirst mechanism and enhancing the chances of UTI. Urinary Tract Infections are caused by poor as eptic techniques and, therefore, catheters should not be used for convenience but for exclusive medical purposes only. According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), the appropriate measures for indwelling urinary catheterization are: acute urinary retention, accurate measurement of urine output in critical patients and patients requiring prolonged immobilization, such as unstable spine or pelvic fractures. (Dumont, C. &Wakeman,J. 2010.Pg. 29). I, therefore, encourage charge nurses to discontinue the use of catheters. Studies have shown that infections in long-term care facilities are highly prevalent in the United States. The most frequent infections within nursing homes