#21 A Novel Way To Decrease the Amount of Inappropriate Urine Cultures Ordered

In this episode, Drs Krouss and Cho describe an intervention they did to decrease the amount of inappropriate urine cultures being ordered. They share with our audience how unnecessary urine cultures can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment of asymptomatic bacteriuria. Their novel approach to fixing the problem consists of a change to the ordering screen in the electronic medical record which requires entry of the reason for the urine cultures and a Best Practice Advisory (BPA) that appears when urine cultures are ordered for a patient. Their intervention resulted in significant decrease of unnecessary urine cultures. Tune in to this must hear episode!

With special guests:

Mona Krouss, MD Assistant Vice President for Value & Patient Safety for NYC Health + Hospitals and Harry (Hyung Jin) Cho Vice President of Quality at Brigham and Women's Hospital and faculty at Harvard School of Medicine