Urinary Tract Infections in Older Persons Admitted to a Psychogeriatric Ward (UTI_UCP)

Optimizing and Validating the Clinical Algorithm for Diagnosing Urinary Tract Infections in Older Persons Admitted to a Psychogeriatric Ward

Urinary tract infections are one of the most common types of infections in older persons. The general aim of this study is to improve the epidemiological knowledge and develop a better diagnostic algorithm for urinary tract infections in older institutionalized individuals in order to reduce excessive prescribing of antibiotics and prevent antimicrobial resistance.

For any patient with a suspected urinary tract infection during the course of the study a basic questionnaire will have to be filled out and diagnostic tests (urine sample for culture, dipstick assay for the detection of nitrites and leukocyte- esterase and a POC CRP test) will have to be perform.

C Reactive Protein (CRP) measurement on capillary blood using a point-of-care test to determine C Reactive Protein level in the blood

Uricult dipslide: Easy-to-perform bacterial culture test for dectecting urinary tract infections in point of care settings

To verify if the elderly has a serious infection, the research team will combine test results (dipstick, dipslide and CRP measurement) with signs/symptoms reported in the patient questionnaire.

To verify the reliability of the uricult dipslide, a comparison will be made between the result of a dipslide read after 48h at room temperature, a dipslide incubated for 24h at +/- 35° Celsius and a urine culture test performed in a microbiology lab

Inclusion Criteria: Older (65+ years) persons admitted to a gerontopsychiatric ward Exclusion Criteria: Patients not understanding Dutch or not willing to participate (no informed consent)