Date of Award
Spring 2022
Degree Type
DNP Project
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing (ND)
Department
Nursing
Chair
Hector R. Morales, DNP, APRN, PMH-CNS-BC
Abstract
Background: A urinary tract infection (UTI) involves any part of the urinary system, including the urethra, ureter, kidney, and bladder. Urinary tract infections are the most common healthcare-associated infection reported to National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). A UTI is also the second most frequent infection in long-term care (LTAC) facilities, making it the most common cause of bacterial infection or sepsis and hospitalization. Patients with urinary catheters are at an increased risk of infection, and standard catheters reduce the body’s natural ability to cleanse the urinary tract of microorganisms. Bacteria can colonize into biofilms that attach themselves to the catheter surface and may cause catheter blockage and, as a result, develop a resistance to antibiotics. Silver alloy-coated catheters can reduce biofilm formation and colonization by releasing silver ions in the urinary tract.
Setting and Subjects: A long-term care facility for elderly patients ages 55 to 99 years of age with frequent urinary tract infections due to chronic catheter use.
Aim: To determine the effect of silver alloy-coated urinary catheters in preventing urinary tract infection compared with standard silicone or latex urinary catheters in patients with chronic use.
Method: This quality improvement project used Kurt Lewin’s change model with the PDSA method. The intervention involved the replacement of current standard urinary catheters with silver-alloy coated urinary catheters for 5 weeks in a long-term care facility.
Result: A total of seven patients were initially enrolled in the quality improvement (QI) project. Two dropped out due to worsening health-related issues. Forty percent had negative urinalysis, another 40% were asymptomatic with multidrug-resistant bacteria, and 20% had no negative urinalysis.
Conclusion: Using a silver alloy-coated urinary catheter reduced symptomatic catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) occurrences as defined by clinical criteria.
Recommended Citation
Iwe, Assumpta I., "Silver Alloy-Coated Urinary Catheters: Preventing Urinary Tract Infection" (2022). Cohort X. 14.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/cohort_10/14