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Data collected from hospital units participating in a national prevention campaign indicated significant reductions in catheter-associated urinary tract infection, or CAUTI, incidence and overall catheter use following the intervention.
This decline appeared to occur primarily among non-ICUs, according to the study, as there were no changes when researchers limited their analysis to the ICUs of participating hospitals.
"Preventing health care-associated infection in general, and [CAUTI] in particular, has emerged as a priority in the United States, with government agencies taking a lead role," Sanjay Saint, MD, MPH, professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System, and colleagues wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.
"The [National Action Plan's] goal was to reduce the rates of [CAUTI] by 25% by 2013. Despite these efforts, national data indicate that the incidence of [CAUTI] increased by 6% from 2009 to 2013."
Performance of a national collaborative program
The Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) to reduce CAUTIs was an 18-month program launched in March 2011. Modeled on a previous campaign that successfully reduced bloodstream infections related...