Study: Use of CUSP significantly lowers CAUTIs

Editor's Note

Implementation of an Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) helped reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) from 8.6% to 1.1% at the Medical University of South Carolina hospital, AHRQ reports.

The hospital infection prevention team focused on achieving zero CAUTIs by improving and standardizing catheter care steps for preinsertion, insertion, maintenance, and removal.

The team also implemented staff education on the appropriateness of catheter use in all departments, from the operating room to radiology, and installed an alert in the hospital’s electronic health record system. The alert goes off 24 hours after a catheter is inserted and reminds physicians about the continuing use of the catheter every 48 hours.

In addition, nurses are encouraged to use an Early Discontinuation Protocol that allows them to remove a catheter without a physician’s order when it is no longer indicated.

Implementation of an AHRQ patient safety program helped the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) hospital reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) from 8.6 percent in 2012 to 1.1 percent in 2015. The patient safety resource-AHRQ's Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP)-is designed to prevent infections that can increase the length of hospital stays and costs, intensify patient suffering, and even lead to death.