A point prevalence study of healthcare associated urinary tract infections in Australian acute and aged care facilities

• Low proportion of HAUTIs were catheter associated compared to international literature.
• Higher prevalence of catheter use in acute care compared with aged care.
• Online point prevalence of HAUTIs is an effective means of surveillance.

ObjectivesSurveillance of healthcare associated urinary tract infections (HAUTIs) in Australian acute and aged care facilities is lacking. Therefore, to provide the foundation for a national point prevalence study of HAUTIs and catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTIs), a three phase project was developed with recent completion of the second phase. The objectives of Phase II were to (1) develop a website incorporating tools for conducting point prevalence of HAUTIs and CAUTIs, (2) pilot an online process and database for conducting point prevalence of HAUTIs and CAUTIs and (3) determine the point prevalence of HAUTIs and CAUTIs in acute and aged care facilities. This paper reports on the third objective.MethodsPoint prevalence of HAUTIs and CAUTIs were assessed in 82 acute care and 17 aged care facilities within four Australian jurisdictions using an online survey.ResultsThe study included 1320 patients and 663 residents from acute and aged care facilities respectively. HAUTI prevalence was 1.4% (95% CI 0.8–2.2%) in acute care and 1.5% (95% CI 0.8–2.6%) in aged care. Catheter use in acute care (9.3%) was three times greater than aged care (3.3%).ConclusionGiven the relative frequency with which HAUTI occurs, associations with addition length of stay in hospital and risk of systemic sepsis from these infections, efforts should be made to further minimise HAUTI prevalence. There is also a need to develop targeted interventions for catheter use especially in acute care because inappropriate and/or excessive catheter use has implications for the risk of CAUTIs and adds consumable costs.