During Tough Times, A New Tool Makes UTI Diagnosis and Management Easier

At a time when practitioners and care teams are stressed and overburdened, a tool that helps facilitate effective communication and decision-making is both valuable and welcome. Urinary Tract Infections in the Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Settings, a new pocket guide from AMDA, is such a tool. “This is a very important guide. It provides more clarity about when we need to be on high alert,” says Muhammad Salman Ashraf, MBBS, one of the guide’s authors.

Some symptoms of a UTI, such as fever and a dramatic change in mental status, are also possible symptoms of COVID-19, and this can present some challenges when practitioners need to make accurate diagnoses and treatment decisions quickly. “The new pocket  guide helps us differentiate when symptoms suggest someone may have a UTI or some other issue. It provides staff with clear guidance on when someone needs to be tested for a UTI and when they don’t need to be tested but should be monitored. It also provides a stepwise approach for identifying and addressing UTIs,” says Dr. Ashraf.

When decisions need to be made quickly and it is more important than ever to prevent unnecessary treatments, this guide plays a key role. Dr. Ashraf says, “When you follow the guide, it will be clear that in order to start testing and treatment, you have to meet very specific criteria. If these criteria aren’t met, you shouldn’t be testing.” The guide’s use, he says, “will help reduce both unnecessary testing and antibiotic misuse, as well as avoidable trips to the ER or hospital.”

Team communication is always essential, but this is particularly true during the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone is working harder and things are moving faster than ever. With this guide, nurses can ensure that they have all the necessary information for the physician before they pick up the phone. “When they can call the physician or other practitioner and give the necessary information in an organized fashion, all the clinician needs to do is listen; then he or she can feel confident that the nurse has made an accurate, complete assessment. As a result, it is possible to make an appropriate diagnosis and management recommendation, even when it’s not possible or feasible to see the patient in person,” says Dr. Ashraf.

Problems often occur, Dr. Ashraf stresses, when clinicians don’t have all the information necessary to make a diagnosis and recommend interventions. “When this happens, they err on the side of caution. This leads to antibiotic overprescribing and avoidable transfers,” he says. “When they have all the information, they have the confidence to make appropriate decisions. It’s a win for the patient and the care team alike.”

Dr. Ashraf and his colleagues spent many hours developing this guide, but he is happy to share his time and expertise. “It’s all of our responsibility to preserve the antibiotics we currently have for the future and to combat antibiotic resistance. It’s our job to make sure we all have the best tools to combat illness and avoid issues such as inappropriate treatments or prescribing for UTIs,” he notes.  “This is an important concern that can put our patients at risk. Everyone benefits when we make sure that all practitioners and their teams have access to the latest knowledge and skills, as well as cutting-edge resources.”

The guide is available in both paper and electronic versions. Click here for more information or to order.