The NARI IDC-IMPROVE project

Wednesday 16 April 2025, 2.00PM AEST

Speakers: Prof Joan Ostaszkiewicz & Elizabeth Watt, National Ageing Research Institute 

The NARI IDC-IMPROVE project

In 2022-2023, 8.4% of people receiving government subsidised residential aged care in Australia required some form of catheter care. Although clinically beneficial for some people, indwelling urinary catheters increase the risk of infection, antimicrobial resistance, catheter blockage, delirium, bacteremia, admission to hospital, longer hospital stays, higher care costs, and mortality. There are inconsistent approaches to catheter care in Australia’s aged care homes, with many employees feeling unprepared and disempowered to provide routine catheter care and to prevent or manage complications.    Addressing this problem, nurse researchers from the National Ageing Research Institute designed a Catheter Care Bundle to assist aged care providers and clinical staff implement an effective, data driven quality assurance and performance improvement program about catheter care that improves the care and lives of people with indwelling urinary catheters who use their services. This presentation describes the bundle and the process being undertaken to ensure they are feasible and fit-for-purpose. 

About the speakers: Professor Joan Ostaszkiewicz is a Program Manager at the National Ageing Research Institute, an Honorary Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences at the University of Melbourne, Adjunct Professor of Health and Innovation  Transformation Centre at Federation University and Visiting Professor at the Geller Institute for Ageing and Memory at the University of West London. As a Registered Nurse and an academic, Joan’s research expertise is the prevention and management of incontinence in frail older people. She leads a program of research on continence care and catheter care in residential aged care homes. Ms Elizabeth Watt is a Senior Research Fellow at the National Ageing Research Institute (NARI). Liz is a Registered Nurse with over 30-years of experience as an academic, teaching in undergraduate and postgraduate nursing courses. She has a special clinical interest in the care of people with bladder and bowel problems. Liz is a Fellow of the Australian College of Nursing, and a member of the Continence Nurses Society Australia and Australian and New Zealand Urological Nurses Society.

To view the webinar recording, please click the image below:

Webinar PowerPoint Resources

NARI IDC-IMPROVE project: https://www.acipc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/NARI-IDC-IMPROVE-Project-16th-April-2025.pdf

Catheter care guidelines: Indwelling catheterisation in adults – Urethral and suprapubic