EBP Improving Indwelling Catheter Care on Medical Surgical Unit Urinary tract infections are the most common hospital acquired infections; 70%-80% of these infections are attributed to an indwelling urethral catheter (Lo, 2014). According to the Center for Disease Control (January 2015) urinary tract infections are the second most common hospital acquired infection and account for 13,000 deaths annually. A catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) occurs when bacteria enter the urinary tract through the urinary catheter and cause infection. Source of bacteria can be a result from the colonization of the GI system or the contaminated hands of hospital staff inserting catheter.CAUTIs have been associated with increased morbidity, mortality, healthcare costs, and length of hospital stay. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid have identified CAUTI as a hospital acquired infection that can be prevented and therefore cannot be billed if infection was not documented on admission to the hospital. The hospital nursing staff are responsible for insertion, care, and removal of indwelling catheters. The risk of CAUTI can be reduced by ensuring catheters are used only when medically necessary, removed as soon as possible, placed using proper aseptic technique, and closed sterile drainage system is maintained. Success of preventing CAUTIs during a hospital stay requires that all hospital nursing staff be fully competent and committed to patient safety. Review of the Literature Fink (2012), used an electronic survey to examine CAUTI prevention at seventy-five acute care hospitals. The survey found a lacking in staff education, only half of participating sites required a yearly competency of indwelling catheter insertion. In addition, less than two-thirds provided CAUTI prevention and aseptic technique education at general orientation.