New SCIP urinary catheter measure goes into effect January 2010
By Matt Gunn
News Editor/Writer
A new Surgical Care Improvement Project measure regarding urinary catheter removal goes into effect for patients being discharged from hospitals beginning Jan. 1, 2010.
Titled, “Urinary catheter removed on Postoperative Day 1 (POD 1) or Postoperative Day 2 (POD 2) with day of surgery being day zero,” the measure was established to track which day the physician is removing a urinary catheter after surgery or the specific reason why it is left in place.
“We know from numerous studies that the biggest predictor of catheter-associated urinary tract infection is the duration that the catheter is actually in place,” said Dale Bratzler, DO, MPH, Medical Director of the Hospital Interventions Quality Improvement Organizations Support Center and the Hospital Quality of Care Measures Special Study located at the Oklahoma Foundations for Medical Quality. “In a study we published last year we demonstrated that a substantial number of patients who have urinary catheters placed at the time of surgery often have those catheters left in for more than two days postoperatively.”
“The performance measure simply looks to see whether the catheter was removed on postoperative day one or two, or whether the physician documents in the medical record an explicit reason to keep the catheter in place,” Bratzler added. “And I think many hospitals around the country have started focusing on reducing catheter-associated urinary tract infections by putting programs into place that really, just as we do now with central IV catheters, assess the catheter each day to decide whether the patient really needs a urinary tract catheter.”
The measure, which was endorsed by NQF on July 31, is set to take effect at the beginning of January. For more information on SCIP visit www.qualitynet.org.
Read about the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines on catheter-associated urinary tract infection prevention and control here.
Read more news in AORN Management Connections.