NHSN CAUTI Definition
Applies the NHSN catheter-associated urinary tract infection definition: a device, a symptom and a culture criterion, all three.
Open the calculator → Runs in your browser. Data leaves only if you deliberately send a problem report from the interactive tool.
Example
- Consecutive calendar days the indwelling catheter has been in place
- 4
- Catheter still in place on the date of event
- Yes
- Fever above 100.4 F
- Yes
- Urine culture result
- One or two species, at least one a bacterium at 100,000 CFU/mL or more
Result: a CAUTI: 1 accepted symptom, catheter in place 4 calendar days
The tool opens with these values already filled in. Replace them with your own.
What the result means
- Device
- An indwelling catheter in place more than two consecutive calendar days, counting the day of insertion as day 1, and either still in place on the date of event or removed the day before.
- Symptom
- At least one of fever above 100.4 F, suprapubic tenderness, costovertebral angle pain or tenderness, urinary urgency, urinary frequency, or dysuria.
- Culture
- No more than two species, at least one of them a bacterium at 100,000 CFU/mL or more.
- The catheter-out rule
- Urgency, frequency and dysuria are not counted while the catheter is in place. A catheterized bladder cannot produce a meaningful complaint of them.
- Exclusions
- More than two species excludes the event. Yeast is not a bacterium, so candiduria alone does not meet the definition at any colony count.
- What it is not
- A clinical diagnosis, or a decision about whether to treat asymptomatic bacteriuria.
What you enter
- Consecutive calendar days the indwelling catheter has been in place, counting the day of insertion as day 1
- Catheter still in place on the date of event (this is also what discounts urgency, frequency and dysuria)
- Catheter removed the day before the date of event
- Fever above 100.4 F (38.0 C)
- Suprapubic tenderness
- Costovertebral angle pain or tenderness
- Urinary urgency (counted only once the catheter is out)
- Urinary frequency (counted only once the catheter is out)
The other 2 fields
- Dysuria (counted only once the catheter is out)
- Urine culture result
How this is calculated
CDC National Healthcare Safety Network. Urinary Tract Infection (Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection and Non-Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infection) Event. NHSN Patient Safety Component Manual, Chapter 7. Read the source ↗
A reference and educational tool. Not medical, legal, or financial advice, and not a substitute for clinician judgment.