Nursing Management for the Prevention of Urinary Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections in the Emergency Intensive Care Unit: A Retrospective Study.

OBJECTIVE: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is a common type of hospital-acquired infection in the emergency intensive care unit (EICU). The aim of this study was to explore effective nursing management programs to reduce the incidence of CAUTI in patients with EICU.

METHODS: This retrospective study collected the clinical data of critically ill patients from the Department of Emergency Medicine of Soochow University in China from January 2024 to December 2024. Patients admitted from January to June 2024 were treated in the usual care group, and patients admitted from July to December 2024 were treated in the CAUTI prevention care group. The monthly incidence of CAUTI, the duration of urinary catheter indwelling, the duration of bladder irritation symptoms, the number of days of hospitalisation and the adverse reaction rate of patients in the two time periods were compared.

RESULTS: A total of 833 patients were admitted to the EICU for observation, and they were divided into the usual care group (n = 427) and the CAUTI prevention care group (n = 406). Ninety-seven patients developed CAUTI, with an overall incidence rate of 11.64%. Among them, 64 cases (14.99%) of CAUTI occurred in the conventional nursing group, which was higher than that in the CAUTI prevention care group (33 cases, 8.13%), and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The duration of urinary catheterisation, duration of bladder irritation, length of hospital stay and incidence of adverse reactions in patients with CAUTI in the CAUTI prevention care group were lower than those in the usual care group (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Reasonable nursing management program is related to a low incidence of CAUTI in EICU and has a certain effect on its prevention.