New nursing perspectives on CAUTI issues
Under the auspices of the EAUN’s educational activities, the European School of Urology Nursing (ESUN) offered its initial course in Amsterdam in the Netherlands from May 8 to 9 this year, and in this report two participants describe their impressions:
We are two registered nurses from Amsterdam and we were privileged to be part of this training.
The course took up urinary tract infections (UTI) and catheter related urinary infections (CAUTI’s) as the main topic. To prepare for this course we read articles and current guidelines on the topic. The course agenda was made up of eight lessons and the lecturers were given 50 minutes to discuss and present their topics after which a Q&A session followed.
Before the use of antibiotics became widespread in the1950s, our bodies used it’s natural immune system to fight infections. But with the growing dependence on antibiotics, this has led to growing resistance to the point that nowadays patients become more vulnerable to the threat of multi-resistant infections.
A cause of alarm among experts is that with the growing resistance, a clear solution to this threat has not yet been found, certainly a worrying prospect to everyone. The way we handle this problem requires more attention. Among the most important measures are the following:
- Prevention of infection;
- Avoiding overtreatment with antibiotics; and
- Right time, right dose and the right indication of antibiotics.
A major challenge
The main challenge is how to decrease the number of UTI cases. Reducing the use of indwelling catheters and the number of days using an in-situ catheter will minimise infection risks. It has been noted that in-situ catheter use increases infection risk by 5% on a daily average.
Thus, it is advisable to set-up a policy that recommends daily or regular checks of indwelling catheter. UTI is now the second most common infection after pneumonia, and 70% of UTI cases are catheter-related (CAUTIs).
Nurses play an important role in educating the patient and healthcare workers. They can highlight and promote the importance of prevention. Moreover, we also have the professional obligation to actively implement the EAUN’s guidelines on catheter use.
Some of the content and information in this course were known to us but we also learned new insights and benefited from the exchange of views. Certainly, we can use this knowledge to make an inventory and help in the review of our own protocols. We also valued the opportunity to meet our colleagues from other European countries and the enthusiastic interaction with them helped us gain new perspectives.
We thank the EAUN and sponsors for this wonderful course and we look forward to the ESUN’s future activities.
By Hiske Visser and Paula Mourik Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis, Dept. of Urology, Amsterdam (NL)
European Urology Today Vol. 27 No. 3 June/July 2015