Preventing pediatric catheter-associated urinary tract infections utilizing urinary catheter Kamishibai cards (K-cards)

Abstract

We instituted Kamishibai (K-card rounding) with the goals of improving indwelling urinary catheter maintenance bundle reliability and decreasing catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) rates. In a free-standing children's hospital, we undertook a hospital-wide quality improvement project from January 2019 to June 2021 after developing a K-card based on our urinary catheter maintenance bundle. Auditors used K-cards to ask standardized questions during weekly rounds. Bundle reliability and CAUTI rates were analyzed prospectively. During the study period, 826 K-card audits were performed for 657 unique patients. While overall maintenance bundle reliability remained stable at 84%, there was a statistically significant improvement in reliability to the bundle element "medical discussion of need for the urinary catheter" from 88% to 94% (P=.01). The hospital-wide CAUTI rate significantly decreased (incidence rate ratio, 0.38; 95% CI, 0.15-0.93; P=.04). Hospital-wide urinary catheter K-card rounding facilitated standardized data collection, discussion of reliability and real-time feedback to nurses. Maintenance bundle reliability remained stable after implementation, accompanied by a significant decrease in the CAUTI rate. Implementation of hospital-wide urinary catheter K-card rounding was associated with reduction in CAUTI rates. The project demonstrated likelihood of reproducibility with support of a multidisciplinary team.