Background: Nursing home providers face challenges in urinary tract infection assessment and treatment, often prescribing unnecessary antibiotics for asymptomatic bacteriuria, a practice that can result in adverse drug reactions, drug resistance, and an increase in antibiotic-associated diarrhea.
Purpose: The purpose of this project was to replicate the Cooper Urinary Tract Infection Program in another facility and measure its effectiveness.
Methods: Using a pre-post design, this project was implemented at a 120-bed, long-term care and rehabilitation facility located in the Midwest United States.
Interventions: This project used the multifaceted Cooper Urinary Tract Infection Program that includes the Cooper tool algorithm, didactic education for providers, and change champions.
Results: The results were significant improvements in nurse knowledge and reduced rates of urinary tract infections, inappropriate antibiotic treatments, and urinalyses.
Conclusions: These results add to the evidence for implementing the Cooper Urinary Tract Infection Program in long-term care facilities for effective reduction of inappropriate antibiotic usage for urinary tract infection.