A survey of acute-care hospitals in the United States uncovered that many hospitals use indwelling catheters for reasons that aren't medically necessary, highlighting the opportunity to reduce catheter use and catheter-associated urinary tract infections.
A total of 406 hospitals responded to a survey on the indications for catheter placement used at the facility. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Healthcare Infection Control Practices and Advisory Committee has provided examples of appropriate and inappropriate indications for catheter use, and the researchers compared survey results to HICPAC's recommendations.
While the majority of respondents indicated their hospital used appropriate indications, several still used inappropriate indications. For example, 42.4 percent used urinary incontinence without outlet obstruction as an indication for catheter use, and 34.2 percent used patient/family request.
"Identifying and implementing strategies that would help bolster infection control programs may help increase awareness of catheter appropriateness and reduce inappropriate catheter use," the researchers wrote in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology. They also recommended that clinicians inform patients and families of the potential consequences of catheters — like CAUTIs — when a request for a catheter is made.