Developing a digital knowledge-to-practice framework for urinary device management and CAUTI surveillance.

Authors

Elinor Howcroft

Published in

British journal of nursing (Mark Allen Publishing). Volume 35. Issue 20. Pages 996-1002. Nov 05, 2026. Epub Nov 10, 2026.

Abstract

Inappropriate urinary device use and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) contribute to preventable patient harm, antimicrobial resistance, incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD) and prolonged hospitalisation.
To describe the development, implementation and evaluation of a digitally enabled urinary device knowledge-to-practice framework designed to strengthen clinical governance, improve CAUTI surveillance and support harm prevention.
A practice-based implementation programme was led by the Continence Lead Nurse at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust. Following an evidence review, the Continence Lead Nurse independently undertook a prospective clinical audit of CAUTI symptoms and microbiology findings. The audit informed the decision to embed CAUTI symptom prompts within electronic catheter care plans and develop CAUTIon+, a digital surveillance dashboard. Evidence-based urinary device pathways and digital care plans were integrated into trust-wide clinical policy. A female external catheter (FEC) pathway was evaluated through a 6-week feasibility study and a separate 6-month value-based procurement evaluation.
Implementation established daily prospective CAUTI surveillance through CAUTIon+, supporting earlier identification of suspected infection and structured clinical review. In the initial FEC evaluation, all nine patients reported positive experiences, while 19 of 21 staff respondents highly recommended the device. The subsequent procurement evaluation recorded a 93% reduction in IAD cases (43 to 3), with an estimated 132 bed days avoided and £67 896.30 in reported net savings.
Integrating digital urinary device care plans, trust-wide clinical policy and CAUTIon+ surveillance translated evidence into routine practice and strengthened urinary device stewardship. The framework supports earlier clinical intervention and antimicrobial stewardship, with the potential to contribute to prevention of urinary-source sepsis. It aligns with the NHS 10-year health plan's shift towards digital, preventive health care and offers a model for wider NHS evaluation.

PMID:
43007838
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 11 Nov 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.