Practical Changes to “Stop CAUTI”

A catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is one of the most common infections for a patient in a hospital or a resident at home. CAUTI is related to the use of a urinary catheter, which is a tube inserted into the bladder through the urethra to drain urine.

Improving quality and safety of care is a priority for all healthcare providers, so what does it take to improve care in the hospital?  The Stop-CAUTI team of Yishun Community Hospital found their solutions through strong teamwork.

Their multipronged approach reduced hospital-wide CAUTI rates by more than 30%, and won the team an Excellence Award in Clinical Quality Improvement at the AIC Quality and Productivity Festival 2018. This award recognises projects that demonstrate exemplary service and commitment in delivering quality care to clients. You can watch our video to find out more about the team’s creative tools and how they were implemented.

These initiatives were the product of collaboration between senior management and ward teams, who came up with ideas that would fit into their daily workflows. These ideas were piloted in two wards and refined further before they were rolled out to the rest of the hospital wards.

Florence Chng, Deputy Director of Quality and Risk Management, credits the ward staff for the success, “A good manager can make a project succeed, but it is the good staff who are empowered that sustain a successful project.”  

If your organisation would like to learn more about YCH’s Stop-CAUTI initiative, please contact chng.florence.lc@yishunhospital.com.