Publications by authors named "Judith Harwood"

Background: The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has enacted 2 policies that have focused considerable attention on the optimal use of indwelling catheters in the acute and long-term care settings and the prevention of complications including catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).

Objectives: This is the second of a 2-part Evidence-Based Report Card reviewing current evidence pertaining to nursing actions for prevention of CAUTI in patients with short- and long-term indwelling catheters. Part 2 reviews multiple interventions for CAUTI prevention including staff education, monitoring of catheter use and CAUTI incidence, insertion technique, urethral meatal care, securement, use of a closed drainage system, bladder irrigation, frequency of catheter change, and antiseptic solutions in the drainage bag.

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Background: The urinary system is the most common site for all hospital-acquired infections, accounting for approximately 40% of all nosocomial infections. The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has enacted 2 policies that have focused considerable attention on the optimal use of indwelling catheters in the acute and long-term care settings and the prevention of complications including catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI).

Objectives: This is the first of a 2-part Evidence-Based Report Card reviewing current evidence pertaining to nursing actions for prevention of CAUTIs in patients with short- and long-term indwelling catheters.

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When the Association for Advanced Wound Care Quality of Care Task Force members determined there was no unanimously accepted definition of quality as it relates to wound care, they: 1) identified relevant components of quality wound care, and 2) created a framework of quality wound care indicators to enable the creation or assessment of wound care delivery systems. The framework is an innovative conceptual model that serves as a basis for the Association strategies to facilitate high quality wound care for patients/clients across the continuum of care and recognizes the role of the supporting systems necessary to provide wound care services. It uses the Institute of Medicine's Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century to define quality systems for wound care and includes safety and effectiveness coupled with the delivery of timely, efficient, equitable, collaborative, patient-centered care.

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