Toolkit for Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI in ICUs

Today’s intensive care unit (ICU) teams understand the importance of providing high-quality care that relies on a culture of safety and evidence-based clinical practices to help prevent infections. This customizable, educational toolkit aims to help ICUs reduce rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). Access the materials in one of three ways:

• Assess Looking to understand your ICU's current clinical and safety practices to prevent CLABSI and CAUTI?
• Implement Looking for guidance throughout the implementation of CLABSI and CAUTI prevention?
• Overcome Stuck on a particular challenge and need support to find actionable solutions?

By including the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) and other evidence-based practices, this toolkit provides the clinical and cultural guidance to make changes needed to decrease CLABSI and CAUTI rates. The first access point, Assess, supports teams to assess current practices and create a plan to move forward. The second access point, Implement, is a guide that explains various resources to support the implementation process of decreasing infections in your unit. The last entry point, Overcome, acknowledges common challenges that ICU teams face when attempting to decrease the rate of their CLABSI and CAUTI, and will quickly connect you with resources that you need at that moment. ICU staff can reference the Overcome section multiple times as they work through lowering infections in their unit.

Threat of CLABSI, CAUTI, and HAI

• Healthcare-associated infections affect 1 in 31 hospitalized patients and these infections are largely preventable
  
  Source: HAI Data. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2018.
• Catheter-associated urinary tract infections account for 75% of all healthcare-associated urinary tract infections
  
  Source: Catheter-associated Urinary Tract Infection (CAUTI). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 2019.
• Central line-associated bloodstream infections significantly increase risk of death
  
  Source: Ziegler MJ, Pellegrini DC, Safdar N. Attributable mortality of central line associated bloodstream infection: systematic review and meta-analysis. Infection. 2015 Feb;43(1):29-36. Epub 2014 Oct 21.

About the Toolkit

The AHRQ Safety Program for ICUs: Preventing CLABSI and CAUTI was developed over a 5-year period. This large-scale implementation project was designed to reduce CLABSI and CAUTI in ICUs with persistently elevated infection rates.

• Access the Final Report (PDF, 5 MB).