Effectiveness of Nursing Care Bundle on Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI) among Patients with Indwelling Catheter in Selected Wards of Mgmcri, Kasturba Gandhi Nursing College, Puducherry India - An Experimental Study

Background: Infection is a health hazard of great expense and significance affecting the final outcome of treatment. Infection control (IC) is a quality standard and is essential for the well-being and safety of patients, staff, and visitors. A hospitalized patient can be expected to be more susceptible to infection due to their underlying disease, or by injuries acquired outside or inflicted upon them by surgical procedures and instrumentations in the hospital. UTIs are the most common type of healthcare-associated infection reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) (2015) Among UTIs acquired in the hospital, approximately 75% are associated with a urinary catheter, which is a tube inserted into the bladder through the urethra to drain urine. Therefore, catheters should only be used for appropriate indications and should be removed as soon as they are no longer needed.

Aim: The main aim of the current study was to know the effectiveness of Nursing Care Bundle on CatheterAssociated Urinary Tract Infection among patients with indwelling catheter in critical care units of MGMCRI, Puducherry.

Materials and Methods: Quantitative research approach was used for this study. The two group pre-test post-test design was used for this study. Total 60 samples were selected using simple random sampling technique. The data pertaining to level of bacterial colonization was collected by using urine culture and sensitivity and NHSN CAUTI assessment tool.

Result: The results in the experimental group urine culture during post-test were positive for only 4 samples, whereas the other 26 samples were negative. In control group during post-test, urine culture was positive for 16 samples and 14 samples were negative. The calculated P-value (P=<0.0009*) was less than 0.05 level & statistically significant at p<0.05 level. The demographic variables namely age, gender, financial status, marital status, diet pattern, educational status, religion, and occupation did not have any significant association with level of CAUTI.

Conclusion: The risk of CAUTI increases with longer duration of catheterization. All patients those who had catheter for more than 6 days should be checked for UTI symptoms. And their urine should be cultured regularly in order to diagnose and prevent CAUTI and its complications which are very dangerous and difficult to treat.Regular practice of this Nursing Care Bundle will prevent the CAUTI rates in hospitals and tertiary care areas.

Keywords: Colonization, CAUTI, UTI, Asymptomatic.