Initiative decreases urinary cultures

The Choosing Wisely quality improvement initiative successfully decreased urinary cultures in a large, safety net system, according to a study published last week in the Journal of Infection Control. The initiative targeted inappropriate urinary cultures across 11 hospitals and 70 ambulatory clinics by using two electronic health record interventions. The study compared urinary culture ordering before and after the system implemented the interventions. Inpatient urinary cultures declined 20.9%. Inpatient urinary cultures on patients with urinary catheters fell 21.6%. The authors recommended further study to assess variation among hospitals and clinics, as well as among clinician types and specialties. (Journal of Infection Control study, 3/1/23)