PROJECT ABSTRACT/STATEMENT OF WORK
This project is a multi-disciplinary collaboration within the Institute for Healthcare Policy and
Innovation (IHPI) of investigators from the Departments of Internal Medicine, Surgery, and
Urology at the University of Michigan and the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center, to improve the
measurement and safety of perioperative urinary catheter use, by reducing catheter use and
catheter complications and improving postoperative urinary retention management. This project
is focused on adults undergoing very common general surgical procedures: appendectomy,
cholecystectomy, colorectal surgery, and hernia repairs. This project leverages our IHPI
investigators’ clinical and research expertise understanding urinary catheter indications and
complications, performing focus groups, site visits, and chart abstraction, and developing,
implementing, and evaluating interventions to reduce urinary catheter use and harm, as well as
experience working with the Michigan Surgical Quality Collaborative (MSQC). This project will
develop and pilot new measures of perioperative urinary catheter use, postoperative urinary
retention, and urinary catheter-associated complications. The toolkit intervention will address
clinician knowledge and urinary catheterization skills, as well as communication and
implementation challenges anticipated to impact catheter use in different types of perioperative
clinical settings. This intervention aims to reduce perioperative urinary catheter use, catheter-
associated complications including infections and catheter-associated trauma, and improve
management of postoperative urinary retention. This toolkit will be developed, implemented, and
evaluated in collaboration with a pilot group of MSQC hospitals’ surgeons and nurses.
