Catheter acquired urinary tract infection (UTI) is one of the most common health care acquired infections. About 70–80% of these infections are attributable to use of an indwelling urethral catheter. Thus, indwelling urethral catheter use is exceedingly common in health care facilities. Prevention of infections attributable to these devices is an important goal of healthcare infection prevention programs.
Indwelling urinary catheters are generally considered to be short term if they are in situ for less than 30 days and chronic or long term when in situ for 30 days or more. Indwelling catheter use in acute care facilities is usually short term, while chronic catheters are most common for residents of long term care facilities. Clinical and microbiologic considerations may vary for short and long term catheters. Urinary catheter acquired infection is usually manifested as asymptomatic…
