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STEP 12: Monitoring the Nursing Home's Performance With
Respect to UTIs
➤ Follow the facility's Quality Measure report regarding UTIs for
information about the prevalence of these infections relative to
national and state norms.
➤ Monitor the effectiveness of the facility's infection prevention
and control program, including the tracking of unit-specific UTI
rates as well as competencies related to the prevention of CAUTI.
Implementing a comprehensive infection prevention and control
program is a safe and effective strategy to reduce CAUTI in PALTC
setting.
➤ Apply the principles and mandates of antibiotic stewardship to the
diagnosis, treatment and prevention of UTIs. The CDC has established
7 core elements for antibiotic stewardship in nursing homes, which
are reflected in the guidance used to assess compliance with CMS
requirements for an antibiotic stewardship program. PALTC settings
may select UTI as one of the facility's annual performance/practice
improvement and antimicrobial stewardship projects.
➤ Appendix E summarizes the core elements and provides examples of
how these apply to the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of UTI in
the PALTC settings.
