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t m c » p u l s e | s e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 6 35 Solutions TMC innovations D uring surgery, many patients are outfitted with a urinary catheter, which drains urine into a bag outside the body. Due to the risk of contami- nation and the length of time a cath- eter remains in place, urinary tract infections (UTI) are the fourth most common infection in surgical patients, says Thomas Aloia, M.D., director of quality and outcomes for the surgery division at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. To improve those odds, Aloia helped organize a team of nurses, nurse practitioners, surgeons, anesthesiolo- gists, physician assistants and others. Working with the American College of Surgeons and National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, the team collected data from 1,000 patients to analyze the rate of complications. According to the data, UTIs occurred in 2.8 percent of the patients. To understand how the hospital environment could be improved to reduce the number of infections, Aloia's team developed the S.T.O.P. program. An innovative way to assess the handling of catheters, S.T.O.P. articu- lates best practices via four succinct, memorable guidelines. Using these guidelines, the team identified spe- cific areas that needed improvement. Subsequently, urinary tract infection rates in surgery patients dropped to 0.5 percent. "We then noted that the urinary tract infection rate went down across the entire hospital," Aloia said. "As we presented last month at the American College of Surgeons quality meeting, these best practices diffused out to the rest of the hospital via the nursing staff, and the whole hospital got better. It's a great secondary outcome." B y C h r i s t i n e H a l l OCT. 13-14, 2016 Register Today! 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030 T H E P A R K L A N E 1 7 0 1 H E R M A N N D R . | 7 1 3 . 5 2 6 . V I E W 1 7 0 1 H E R M A N N D R . | 7 1 3 . 5 2 6 . V I E W A S K A B O U T O U R G R E A T M O V E I N S P E C I A L S ! • Electric Vehicle Charging Stations • On-Site Storage Included • Assigned Garage Parking • No Water or Garbage Bills • 24hr. Valet & Concierge Service • Pets Accepted • Minutes from Texas Medical Center • Sophisticated Surveillance System • Discount to Texas Medical Center Employees w w w . t h e p a r k l a n e . c o m L U X U R Y A P A R T M E N T S L U X U R Y A P A R T M E N T S S.T.O.P. PROGRAM S Sterile placement | Insert the catheter cleanly and properly. T Timely removal | Remove the catheter within two days or as soon as the patient is able to make it to the bathroom independently. O Optimal position of the urine bag | Use hooks at a lower height on the IV pole and beds to attach the urine bag. Especially during patient transport, there is a chance for reflux back to the bladder if the urine bag is placed above the bladder. P Proper sampling | Obtain clean, uncontaminated urine samples to validate the diagnosis of a urinary tract infection.