Lisa Harris, Infection Control Practitioner

The GF Strong Rehabilitation Centre team has done a phenomenal job of embracing the concepts of quality improvement. They’ve reduced the number of these infections from a high of about 18 cases to less than five per month, that’s a 73% improvement.

The first step, identify the problem

Three years ago Lisa Harris, infection control practitioner, began monthly surveillance of UTIs on GFS wards. Together with the clinical Educators and Patient Care Coordinators (PCC’s) they reviewed the CAUTI practice guidelines from Health care Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and identified the gaps in their current practice.

Next, the team worked together towards a solution

Cathy Nevens, Clinical Nurse Educator GF Strong

The team began a number of new practices like implementing sterile technique instead of clean technique for insertion of intermittent catheters as well as introducing a closed sterile system for attaching the night drainage bag to the sterile leg bag.

Cathy Nevens, clinical nurse educator, shares “Staff has reduced the number of CAUTI from a high of about 18 cases to less than five per month.” That’s a 73% improvement. She says. “Our team has done a great job.”

Clinical nurse educators: Jean Carr and Dawn Coney and PCCs: Andrea Horsley, Jenny Sedgley and Anna Krzyzanowski have also played central roles in the success of this initiative.

Now they regularly monitor progress

Lisa was able to keep the momentum going with monthly reporting of UTI cases. UTIs were a frequent problem for people with spinal cord injuries so it was exciting for staff and physicians to see how practice changes can contribute to improvements in the quality of patient care.

Why it’s important to reduce CAUTI

The benefits of reducing CAUTI extend to both patients and staff. Lower occurrence of these infections means fewer hospital admissions and antibiotic prescriptions. It also means clients can participate more actively in their rehabilitation program and settle back into their community faster.

Cathy and Jean will share GF Strong’s success and results with the rest of the country in May at a poster presentation at the Canadian Association of Rehabilitation Nurses conference in Vancouver. 

Learn more

Visit the CAUTI pages of VCHConnect

Visit the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee website.