Intense education program can reduce use of indwelling urinary catheters in MICU setting

Many hospitalized patients have an indwelling urinary catheter (IUC), and previous studies have found up to one-third of IUCs are unneeded. A team of researchers from Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, implemented an intervention that decreased the use of IUCs in patients from 92.3 percent to just 15 percent, representing a 77.3 percent reduction in use.

Researchers implemented a three-step intervention to decrease urinary catheterization rates including an intense education program for the entire healthcare team, a prescribed listing of allowed indications for use, followed by additional step-downs in indication and sonographic bladder scanning to detect urinary retention.

"An intensive educational program with daily focus on appropriateness of IUC use can dramatically reduce use of ICUs in a MICU setting and can reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections," said Drs. Pavan Irukulla and Yizhak Kupfer, Maimonides Medical Center lead researchers.

Further results will be shared during CHEST 2015 on October 28th, at 1:30 pm in the Exhibit Hall. The study abstract can be viewed on the CHEST website.