Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
10-18-2025
First Advisor
Lisa Drake
Abstract
Catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is a common preventable healthcare-associated infection in long-term care. knowledge gaps and inconsistent catheter care by staff and increased catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates. The purpose of this quality improvement project aims at testing whether using a structured educational intervention led to improved confidence of staff and reduced catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates. The project employed Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory and Lewin's change model in guiding the behavior and organizational change. A quasi-experimental pretest post-test design was used with the enrolment of nursing employees such as registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and certified nursing assistants residing in one long term care facility. The intervention was a 45-minute educational session that included a PowerPoint presentation, some hands-on demonstrations and some visual reminders. The confidence level was measured by the Grundy Confidence Scale before and after the training. Facility infection control records data on catheter-associated urinary tract infection rates for 8-week time periods before and after intervention. Paired t tests and descriptive statistics assessed changes. Mean confidence went from 2.8 (+ 0.7) to 4.2 (+ 0.5). Paired t test, t = 12.4, 37 degrees of freedom, p < .001, d = 2.3. The research found a 53% decrease in issues of catheter-associated urinary tract infection, from 6.8 to 3.2 per 8-week periods. Limitations included single site design, small sample size, sample population was not controlled and limited time to review processes. In conclusion, the brief, skills-based education led to substantial improvements in staff confidence and a significant improvement in the catheter-associated urinary tract infection rate at the project site. Embedding the program into an annual competency training is one feasible way to maintain gains and enhance patient safety. Findings support broad adoption in other similar long-term care settings to enhance resident outcomes.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Meseha, Diana, "Improving CAUTI Prevention in Long-Term Care: An Educational Intervention to Enhance Staff Confidence and Reduce Infection Rates" (2025). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 241.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/241
