Healthcare Acquired, Catheter – Associated Urinary Tract Infections; Considering Novel Silver Technology To Improve Patient Care

Abstract

ISSUE: It is a well documented and known fact that the most common healthcare acquired (HA) infection is a urinary tract infection (UTI). Most authorities put the occurrence at 35-40% of all HA infections. Estimates suggest that these catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) “directly cause almost 1,000 deaths (about 1 death per 1,000 episodes of catheter associated bactiuria and contribute to an additional 6,500 deaths annualy in the U.S.” Despite these staggering statistics there has been little impact on this problem since the introduction of the “closed” cather system in the 1950s. A search of the professional literature indicates that attempts to prevent bactiuria with the use of silver technology applied to the use of a catheter product have been inconclusive. A novel silver technology has become available (2003) and as the problems of bactiuria and symptomatic CAUTI have remained primary problems in hospitals, Southern Maryland Hospital Center decided to evaluate this new technology with the use of quality processes.