Southeast Hospital achieves 0 CAUTIs in over a year

Missouri hospital is leading the charge in preventing catheter-related infections

By Medline Newsroom Staff | March 22, 2022

Infection Prevention

Southeast Hospital achieves 0 CAUTIs in over a year

Missouri hospital leading the charge in preventing catheter-related infections

Southeast Hospital

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) have increased since the onset of the pandemic, with incidents rising 19% in the fourth quarter 2020 when compared to 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Now, health systems across the nation are getting back to the basics on CAUTI prevention and turning to solutions that not only streamline processes, but better support clinical staff.

Southeast Hospital, a Medline partner for over five years, shared that it has reported zero CAUTIs in over a year since using Medline’s Urological Solution and leveraging its Foley catheter trays and general urological accessories. Southeast Hospital is located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and part of the SoutheastHEALTH network, which serves patients throughout Missouri, southern Illinois, western Kentucky and northern Arkansas.

“We’ve been using Medline’s Total One-Layer Foley Tray with the 100% latex-free poly-catheter for the last three years, and it has been instrumental in helping maintain sterile techniques and standardized practices with frontline nurses.”

Dewayne Whitener

Southeast Hospital Performance Improvement Specialist

“We’ve been using Medline’s Total One-Layer Foley Tray with the 100% latex-free poly-catheter for the last three years, and it has been instrumental in helping maintain sterile techniques and standardized practices with frontline nurses,” said Dewayne Whitener, performance improvement specialist at Southeast Hospital. Whitener has been with the hospital for about 11 years and is committed to supporting clinicians and nurses through standardizing processes.

Supporting, empowering staff

Whitener said the intuitive nature of the kits support and empower staff and have been widely accepted by clinicians. Southeast Hospital also formed a dedicated CAUTI team nine years ago. This team consists of frontline nursing staff and infection preventionists, who worked to ensure the proper utilization, insertion and removal of urinary catheters.

Whitener agrees that CAUTI prevention has various components that lead to success and supports the use of Medline’s ReadyCleanse Perineal Care Cleansing Cloths. Whitener said the cloths, which the hospital has been using for about five years, contribute to the overall standardization of CAUTI prevention practices, limiting hesitancy on how many cloths are needed as well as the need to run back and forth to obtain and open multiple packs, limiting disruption.

“A big part of the overall success is that we have a good nursing team, and we must empower them by ensuring that they have the necessary resources to remove the catheters,” said Whitener. “In addition, our infection preventionists must continue to have effective rounds, asking the hard questions. This has all been significant in getting us to zero CAUTIs in the last year.”

Prioritizing education and training

When it comes to prioritizing education and training, Whitener puts it at the top of his list. Southeast Hospital has implemented training for all new clinical staff and travel nurses about proper use of Medline’s perineal care cleansing cloths, catheter securement device and one-layer Foley tray, ingraining the products and processes into its standard CAUTI prevention practice for many years.

The hospital also leverages Medline’s online education courses focused on urology and best practices, and guidance posters to help reinforce safety and provide visual reminders to nurses around Foley insertion and maintenance care. The courses offered through Medline University build sustainable knowledge for frontline clinicians to help prevent CAUTIs.

The comprehensive CAUTI prevention program, part of Medline’s Urological Solution, was built by clinicians to empower frontline staff with best practice guidance, ongoing education and training and the right system of products.

Learn more about Medline’s Urology Solution.

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Categories: Caregiver Readiness, Healthcare Segment News, Home hero, Infection Prevention

Medline Newsroom Staff

Medline Newsroom Staff

Medline's newsroom staff researches and reports on the latest news and trends in healthcare.

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