Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is one of the most common healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units (ICUs). CAUTI can lead to prolonged hospitalization, increased medical costs, and elevated mortality, un...
Background: Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is one of the most common healthcare-associated infections in intensive care units (ICUs). CAUTI can lead to prolonged hospitalization, increased medical costs, and elevated mortality, underscoring the urgent need for effective prevention. Evidence-based infection control guidelines recommend avoiding unnecessary urinary catheter insertion and ensuring early removal through systematic management. However, nurse-led catheter management interventions for CAUTI prevention remain limited in Korea compared with international studies. To address this gap, a nurse-led catheter management system was developed, comprising a catheter insertion bundle and daily maintenance protocol.
Purpose: This study aimed to develop a nurse-led urinary catheter management system and evaluate its effects on intensive care unit (ICU) nurses’ catheter-associated urinary tract infection(CAUTI) prevention behaviors—based on the Theory of Planned Behavior—as well as its impact on CAUTI incidence and catheter utilization among ICU patients.
Methods: A quasi-experimental design was implemented in the neurosurgical ICU and the cardiothoracic surgical cardiac ICU of a tertiary hospital in Seoul. The intervention consisted of a catheter insertion bundle and a nurse-led catheter maintenance protocol developed from evidence-based infection control guidelines. A one-group pre–post design was used to survey 48 ICU nurses before and after the intervention, assessing attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and adherence to catheter management guidelines. For patients, a noninferiority controlled quasi-experimental design was employed: patients admitted during the 3 months pre-intervention (control group, N=317) and post-intervention (experimental group, N=330) were compared using retrospective chart review. Multiple linear regression, Wilcoxon signed-rank test, Mann–Whitney U test, Poisson regression, and One-inflated beta regression were performed for statistical analyses.
Results: Subjective norms (β=0.13, p=.012) and perceived behavioral control (β=0.09, p=.048) significantly influenced nurses’ adherence to catheter management guidelines, while attitude did not (β=0.03, p=.526). After the intervention, perceived behavioral control significantly increased (p=.015), and guideline adherence improved from 77.04±6.83 to 80.27±6.41 (p=.001). CAUTI incidence decreased from 2.07 to 0.72 cases per 1,000 catheter-days, but was not statistically significant (IRR=0.36, 95% CI [0.04, 3.50], p=.381). The catheter utilization ratios were 0.931 in the control group and 0.937 in the experimental group. Overall, 94.6% of observations were concentrated at 1, indicating a one-inflated distribution. A one-inflated beta regression model adjusted for covariates was applied. No significant group difference was observed in the inflation submodel estimating the probability of a utilization ratio of 1 (p=1.000). In the beta submodel, the experimental group showed a lower utilization ratio than the control group, but the difference was not statistically significant (B=-0.643, 95% CI [-1.292, 0.006], p=.053).
Conclusions: The nurse-led urinary catheter management system effectively enhanced ICU nurses’ CAUTI prevention behaviors and demonstrated a positive trend in reducing CAUTI incidence. The application of the Theory of Planned Behavior confirmed that subjective norms and perceived behavioral control are key determinants of nurses’ infection prevention behaviors. These findings provide foundational evidence for developing and implementing programs to strengthen infection prevention practices in clinical settings.