To evaluate the usability and effectiveness of a computerized clinical decision support (CDS) intervention aimed at reducing the duration of urinary tract catheterizations.

Retrospective cohort study.

Academic healthcare system.

All adult patients admitted from March 2009 through May 2012.

A CDS intervention was integrated into a commercial electronic health record. Providers were prompted at order entry to specify the indication for urinary catheter insertion. On the basis of the indication chosen, providers were alerted to reassess the need for the urinary catheter if it was not removed within the recommended time. Three time periods were examined: baseline, after implementation of the first intervention (stock reminder), and after a second iteration (homegrown reminder). The primary endpoint was the usability of the intervention as measured by the proportion of reminders through which providers submitted a remove urinary catheter order. Secondary endpoints were the urinary catheter utilization ratio and the rate of hospital-acquired catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs).

The first intervention displayed limited usability, with 2% of reminders resulting in a remove order. Usability improved to 15% with the revised reminder. The catheter utilization ratio declined over the 3 time periods (0.22, 0.20, and 0.19, respectively; P < .001), as did CAUTIs per 1,000 patient-days (0.84, 0.70, and 0.51, respectively; P < .001).

A urinary catheter removal reminder system was successfully integrated within a healthcare system’s electronic health record. The usability of the reminder was highly dependent on its user interface, with a homegrown version of the reminder resulting in higher impact than a stock reminder.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(9):1147-1155

To determine the rates and routes of Acinetobacter baumanii colonization and pneumonia among ventilated patients in a surgical intensive-care unit (SICU) before and after architectural modifications.

A nonsequential study comparing two groups of patients. All isolates from systematic and clinical samples were genotyped by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Records of patients hospitalized during the first and second periods were reviewed and findings were compared. Between the two periods, the SICU was remodeled from enclosed isolation rooms and open rooms to only enclosed isolation rooms with handwashing facilities in each room.

All patients hospitalized and mechanically ventilated for more than 48 hours in the 15-bed SICU of the University Hospital of Besançon (France).

For the first and second periods, the rates of colonization were, respectively, 28.1% and 5.0% of patients (P<10−7; relative risk [RR], 2.23; 95% confidence interval [CI95], 1.8-2.75) and the specific rates of bronchopulmonary (BP) colonization were, respectively, 9.1 and 0.5 per 1,000 days of mechanical ventilation (P<10−5). Seven major PFGE isolate types were identified, 4 of which were isolated from 44 of the 47 colonized or infected patients. Logistic regression analysis showed that colonization was not associated with patient characteristics.

Conversion from open rooms to isolation rooms may help control nosocomial BP tract acquisition of A baumanii in mechanically ventilated patients hospitalized in an SICU.