Urinary tract infection causes, symptoms, and treatment

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are characteristically the most prevalent healthcare-associated infection or HAI for short, in critical care place in America. The CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has projected that up over 150,000 hospital-onset, indicative catheter-associated UTIs (CAUTIs) happened in 2013, which brought about in as much as $160 million in superfluous straight medical costs (Kuntz, 2010, p. 319). Existing research inspects the possible reasons for such an elevated incidence of infection by offering ways it can be improved or researched. Roughly three quarters of healthcare-associated UTIs are associated with inappropriate use of indwelling urinary catheters. This comes as a result of over 25% of patients becoming exposed to prolonged and unnecessary catheter use. Adult ICUs have the maximum experience rate for catheter use and expose over 95% of UTIs connected to catheter use.

A study by Hyder et al. examined six key areas in their cross country assessment. "A cross-country evaluation was performed concentrating on six key areas: chosen research topic; type of intervention considered; inclusion/exclusion of stakeholder groups; general stakeholder considerations; power level, power type and agreement level of stakeholders; and classi-cation of and approaches to identi-ed stakeholders" (Hyder et al., 2010, p. 159). The evaluation provided much needed information on ways the health care industry can assess the problems associated with UTI's by analyzing what influences use of things that bring about UTI's like catheters and how that might affect the end infection statistics. Many times politics are responsible for the occurrence of things like nosocomial infections due to lack of preparation or qualification in regards to staff and regulation.

Staff sometimes are underqualified. Nurses need to receive additional training in order to be better prepared to handle possible issues resulting from patient related problems. A report by IOM suggests nurses should be become better qualified and receive their baccalaureate degrees. "Increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees from 50% to 80% by 2020 and encouraging nurses with associate degrees and diplomas to enter baccalaureate programs within five years of graduation" (Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2011, p. 3).

This increase will not only allow for more availability of qualified nurses, but will also reduce incidence of incompetence among nurses. If nurses receive additional training from education course, they will have less incidence of incompetence related to lack of knowledge or expertise. A lot of the time nosocomial infections happen because the nurse in charge of the patient is not aware of what to do in regards to what will cause the infection.

Another study by Lavis et al. discuss policy briefs a way to guide politicians to necessary changes. Policy briefs are a comparatively innovative method to packing research evidence for politicians. "The first step in a policy brief is to prioritise a policy issue. Once an issue is prioritised, the focus then turns to mobilising the full range of research evidence relevant to the various features of the issue" (Lavis, Permanand, Oxman, Lewin, & Fretheim, 2009, p. 71). Because research evidence is necessary to facilitate any kind of policy change, it is important then to identify methods in which politicians can be influenced to adjust or modify existing policy. This can be achieved through providing enough research information regarding the topic and providing a compelling reason to make any adjustments or changes.

UTI's are often due to lack of hand washing among other things that are a direct consequence of ineffective policy. If healthcare facilities learn to prioritize the need for proper sanitation among the daily interaction of staff and patients, even visitors and patients, UTI's and other nosocomial infections can decrease. Hand washing in particular, especially with catheter use, can greatly help minimize UTI occurrence.

An article by Lowery suggests participation can influence policy process. "Participation in the policy process influences the direction of policy and legislation, ultimately shaping the type of services and the environment in which clients may access services provided by nurses and other healthcare professionals" (Lowery, 2009, p. 133). Standard precautions involving use of PPE or personal protective equipment including hand washing to safeguard patient safety in connection to infection can eventually become the norm if policies that already suggest ways of handling hygiene are altered to minimize contamination. Often found in occurrences where HCAIs were high, medical employees' clothing were found to be tainted with harmful bacteria. Washing clothing and drying it at a satisfactory heat temperature prevents pathogens from remaining on clothing. It is policy changes such as these, which can only be done through increase participation in policy procedure.