Cathtag

Research Investigators

Professor Brett Mitchell, Dr Oyebola Fasugba, A/Professor Maria Northcote – Avondale University
Professor Allen Cheng – Monash University
Dr Philip Russo – Deakin University
Project Officer – Hannah Rosebrock
Contact us: 02 9480 3678 E-mail: [email protected]

Background

Approximately 26% of patients admitted to a hospital will receive an indwelling urinary catheter. Approximately 1% of this population will also develop a catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI)1.

An estimated 380,000 bed days are lost each year due to healthcare-associated infections in Australia, a large proportion of which are CAUTIs. CAUTIs have been associated with increased morbidity, mortality and high hospital costs for patients and health systems and have shown to increase the length of hospital stay by up to four days.2

They are associated with higher risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).3 Prolonged and unnecessary catheterisation appears to be the main risk factor for development of CAUTI’s.1, 4

Summary

This study aims to address prolonged catheterisation as the major cause of CAUTIs, by evaluating the effectiveness of an electronic surveillance device to reduce urinary catheter use: the CATH TAG.
Data collection for the study has been finalised on 30 May 2018. The results are currently being analysed and will be available shortly.

Updates and progress

For those on Twitter, updates are provided by @1healthau or follow #cautiaus or contact [email protected]

References

  1. Gardner A, Mitchell B, Beckingham W, Fasugba O. A point prevalence cross-sectional study of healthcare-associated urinary tract infections in six Australian hospitals. BMJ Open 2014;4
  2. Mitchell BG, Ferguson JK, Anderson M, Sear J, Barnett A. Length of stay and mortality associated with healthcare-associated urinary tract infections: a multi-state model. J. Hosp. Infect. 2016;93:92-99.
  3. World Health Organisation. Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance. Geneva World Health Organisation,; 2014
  4. Jain P, Parada JP, David A, et al. Overuse of the indwelling urinary tract catheter in hospitalized medical patients. Arch Intern Med 1995;155(13):1425-9. [published Online First: 1995/07/10]