The management of urinary tract infections in a district general hospital – a closed loop service review and comparison with SIGN guidelines

Abstract

Elderly patients with new onset of confusion or being ‘off legs’ is a common presenting complaint on the acute take. Urinary tract infections (UTI) are common in the elderly population, often a diagnosis is made based on a positive urine dipstick in the absence of urinary symptoms. However, these patients may actually have asymptomatic bacteriuria (AB). The prevalence of AB in institutionalised women above the age of 65 have been reported to be as high as 57%.1 Bacteriuria is not a disease, and treating it is not advised under the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN) guidelines.2 We looked …