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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

catheter, UTI, urinary tract infections, hospital-associated infections

College

Nursing

Abstract

Each year, about 98,000 preventable patient deaths occur in a hospital setting (Ramanujam, Abrahamson, & Anderson, 2008). Medical errors leading to patient deaths include, medication errors, patient falls, healthcare-associated infections, urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers, etc. (Teng, Dai, Shyu, Wong, Chu, & Tsai, 2009). These patient deaths are avoidable errors and are a direct measure of the healthcare system and individual healthcare facility’s quality. The burden of healthcare-associated infections is heavy, as 1 in every 20 patients has an infection related to hospital care, resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. Not only is this burdensome to patient families, but also to hospitals, as these infections cost the healthcare system billions of dollars each year (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services). This literature review is focused on medical errors related to hospital-acquired infections, specifically urinary tract infections as they account for nearly 40% of all healthcare-associated infections. Of these urinary tract infections, 80% are caused by urinary catheters, and about 1 in every 4 patients have a catheter placed during their hospitalization (University of Utah Healthcare, 2012). The purpose of this literature review is to analyze the effectiveness of current interventions in reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections, as well as new interventions in the literature.

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