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The “Streamlining” Initiative - Reduction of Unnecessary Urine Testing in Patients Presenting at CRH

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 September 2025

Ioana Chirca
Affiliation:
AdventHealth
Whitney Brown
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Rebecca Worley
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
David Cox
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Genie Hamilton
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
April Dukes
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Diana Wilkerson
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Michelle Thompson
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Amanda Smith
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Sheila Fussell
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital
Baily Edmondson
Affiliation:
Crisp Regional Hospital

Abstract

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Background: Crisp Regional Hospital (CRH) in Georgia initiated a quality improvement project to address the excessive and inappropriate urine culture orders among inpatients. The project aimed to reduce these orders by at least 30% by June 2024, targeting the prevalent issues of increased healthcare costs and antibiotic misuse stemming from unnecessary testing. Methods: Using the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) framework, the project implemented a series of multidisciplinary strategies. These included nursing education on proper urine collection, policy updates to facilitate accurate specimen collection from specific patient groups, medical staff education on appropriateness of urine test ordering and a change in reflex criteria for urine testing. Data was analyzed using statistical process control and T-tests to assess the impact of the interventions. Results: The intervention led to a reduction in urine tests from 618 to 570. Tests reflexed to culture decreased significantly from 34.63% to 18.95% (p Conclusion: The quality improvement initiative at CRH significantly reduced unnecessary urine cultures, optimized resource use, and maintained diagnostic integrity. The interventions implemented were effective and scalable, demonstrating substantial cost savings and enhanced patient care quality. Further efforts will focus on analyzing the impact of removing pre-checked orders and implementing mandatory testing indications to continue improving urine testing practices.

Information

Type
Antibiotic Stewardship
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America