Catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) are considered one of the most prevalent health-related issues globally, accounting for almost half of hospital-acquired infections (Rubi et al., 2022). These are considered hospital-acquired infections because the infection is associated with the insertion, and management of a urinary indwelling Foley catheter in the hospital setting. Most of the healthcare-acquired urinary tract infections result from catheter tube implantation which is a sterile procedure. Healthcare personnel must receive the proper training and education to perform procedures and manage Foley catheters correctly and safely to prevent CAUTIs and other hospital-acquired infections (Russell et al., 2019).
Search Results
        Initially, I used the search term “CAUTI” in the PubMed database, which returned approximately 1278 articles. To narrow down the results, I filtered the years to be within the last five years for the most up-to-date research as a second search term using the Boolean operator “AND”. This reduced the number of articles to 625. I added “prevention” as a third term to further refine the search, again using “AND”. This resulted in approximately 325 articles. Finally, I added “management” as a fourth term, which narrowed down the results to around 141 articles.
                                            Strategies to Increase Rigor and Effectiveness
           To increase the rigor and effectiveness of a database search on my PICO(T) question, I would consider the following few strategies. To start, I would make sure to use specific and relevant keywords during my research. For example, instead of using words like “management”, I could use more specific terms or phrases related to caring for indwelling Foley catheters such as “effective catheter cleansing” and “nurse-driven protocol” for managing patients with urinary catheters. Another strategy I can use is the use of the Boolean operators. Boolean operators like “AND”, “OR”, and “NOT” can help refine the search. For example, I could use “NOT” to exclude articles that focus on research that does not pertain to the management and prevention of CAUTIs. Lastly, utilizing filters. Most of the time databases offer filters to narrow down search results. I could use filters to limit the search to recent articles to get the most up-to-date information to ensure that my research is valid and reliable.
Conclusion
         In conclusion, catheter-associated urinary tract infections continue to be a global issue within the healthcare setting. When researching this issue or any issue, it is important to incorporate specific strategies within one’s research to get the best results. By incorporating the specific strategies previously mentioned, a researcher would be able to formulate evidence-based practice questions based on relevant, specific, and reliable research data (Davies, 2011).