Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Analysis

There are some people who will go throughout their life without ever having to go to a hospital. Others though, may go one or two, or even a few times to be seen and treated for an illness or medical problem they are facing. The point is, people go to hospitals to be treated. People go there to receive care that they are not able to give themselves. It is disheartening to know that those very people who seek care from these establishments could also receive the exact opposite. According to the Center for Disease Control, 1 in 25 people admitted to the hospital will also suffer from a nosocomial, or hospital acquired infection (CDC, 2015). That number totals to 1.7million people a year, of that, catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for 35% and result in 8,205 deaths (AHRQ, 2015). These infections cost hospitals $565 million dollars each year and the majority of them can be prevented (AHRQ, 2015). Due to the unnecessary money that is spent treating this …show more content…
It results in millions of dollars a year being spent on something that is preventable. The main risks associated with infections caused by a catheter are age, gender, and length of time the catheter is in place. There are solutions to help prevent these infections. Those include proper hand hygiene, only using catheters when necessary and removing them as soon as possible. Education about infection control and risks of infection are important for staff and healthcare workers to know so that they can take the best care of their patient and keep them free from infection. Patient safety is the main concern, always. There are over one million urinary tract infections caused by catheters each year, resulting in 8,205 deaths each year. Hopefully these numbers begin to decrease every year resulting in fewer catheter-associated infections, and ultimately fewer patient