Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections - Essay Example

"Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections" is an excellent example of a paper on infections.
Catheter-associated urinary tract infection is a common condition that affects patients in hospitals especially those who require assistance with elimination. Coming up with a solution to reduce cases of CAUTI can be received negatively or positively by nurses and other health practitioners. In order to support a proposed solution, Kurt Lewin’s theory is the best theory that demonstrates the phases of change. This theory states the problem that an employee is facing, certain proposed solutions to the problem, educating the employees about the need to introduce change in order to solve the problem, and the reactions of the employees to the change agent. It is the best theory that can apply in coming up with a suitable change and solution to CAUTI.

Lewin identified three phases that the change agent must go through before a planned change becomes part of the system. The three phases include unfreezing, experiencing the change, and refreezing. According to Lewin unfreezing is a phase that explains how best the unit staff is aware of the need for change basing upon the problem at hand and their knowledge about the triggers (Lewin, 2009). In the case of catheter-associated urinary tract infection, the unfreezing phase explains how best the nurses are aware of urinary tract infections associated with a catheter. The nurses must be able to see the need for change to eliminate cases of CAUTI (Argawal, 2009).

The second phase is experiencing the change at hand. It involves educating the nurses on evidence-based practice standards and literature that supports nurse-driven intervention in order to reduce the prevalence of unnecessary use of catheters in the hospitalized patient (Lewin, 2009). It also involves educating and encouraging nursing staff to follow the criteria that facilitate the reduction and elimination of inappropriate catheter usage. Teaching and encouraging patients to ask for urinals or bedpans when they need to void discourages the use of Foley for either patient or nurses’ convenience.

The refreezing phase involves support from nurse supervisors and clinical specialists in educating the nurse staff and encouraging them to assess the need for reducing the use of a catheter every shift.  The staff is encouraged to integrate change into their schedule.  Reduction in the rate of utilizing a Catheter that does not meet the stated criteria is used to assess compliance. Any staff who resists change risks being reported to the nursing supervisor for him or her to be reeducated on a one on one basis (Hergenhahn, 2005). 

Lewin’s theory can be incorporated into a CAUTI project through the following stages of this theory. If the nurses are on duty and very busy to the extent that they cannot recognize an indwelling urinary catheter that is inappropriately fixed, unfreezing occurs when a nursing student asks why the patient has a catheter. This will force the nurse to take a step and assess the catheter for inappropriateness. Change comes in when the student nurse decides to observe other patients for signs of CAUTI daily and obtains an order to remove inappropriate indwelling catheters which gives positive reinforcement to the staff that is proactive. In such a project, the refreezing phase is when the staff accepts the change of applying CAUTI daily. The nurse will check and ensure indwelling catheters are appropriately fixed and cases of CAUTI are on the decrease (Argawal, 2009).