Imprecision medicine: challenges in diagnosis, treatment, and measuring quality for catheter-associated urinary tract infection

BW Trautner, DJ Morgan - Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2020 - academic.oup.com
BW Trautner, DJ Morgan
Clinical Infectious Diseases, 2020academic.oup.com
We question the reliability of the vague symptoms that most commonly define catheter-
associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and encourage further examination of whether the
current CAUTI definition reflects a true infection. While diagnosing CAUTI using the current
surveillance definition, physicians may be missing a number of nonurinary etiologies for
fever, prematurely diagnosing urinary tract infection, and prescribing unnecessary
antibiotics. We believe it is time to reconsider the quality metric of CAUTI. By doing so, we …
Abstract
We question the reliability of the vague symptoms that most commonly define catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) and encourage further examination of whether the current CAUTI definition reflects a true infection. While diagnosing CAUTI using the current surveillance definition, physicians may be missing a number of nonurinary etiologies for fever, prematurely diagnosing urinary tract infection, and prescribing unnecessary antibiotics. We believe it is time to reconsider the quality metric of CAUTI. By doing so, we can improve antibiotic use and quality of patient care.
Oxford University Press