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not only is uti common among older people, its also the hidden reason some older people get confusion.

UTI is also a quick way to have someone admitted following insurance/medicare rules....

people come in for "dizziness" and get admitted for UTI....

I had a patient one time that had been admitted already when I picked her up. I was training a new nurse that day. She was admitted for tachycardia-her heart rate was elevated. Something told me that the tachycardia was not cardiac but likely from a fever from an infection. So I rechecked the temperature which had previously been recorded as being normal and it was like 102 degrees or something. It was high. So I was like, OK, let's get a urine specimen that should have been obtained 4 hours ago before we even came on shift. It was foul smelling and cloudy. I sent it off to the lab and it confirmed that the patient had a raging UTI. So I got to tell the ED doctor, the admitting doctor and the cardiologist that there tachycardic patient had a UTI and fever and needed some tylenol and macrobid. The admission was cancelled and the patient went back to the nursing home and I showed a new nurse how the game is truly played that day.

You'll never hear me defend the US healthcare system. It is effing terrible. Canada deserves bragging rights on this one. But there are good nurses and good doctors working in this terrible system.

My older sister has had long standing urinary problems. Mostly bladder infections that are drug resistant.

In 2009 she got sepsis from a UTI and almost died. Spent a week in ICU then a couple of months in rehab after they released her from the hospital.

She takes antibiotics on a regular basis to keep it tamped down but sometimes has relapses. She starts having halucinations and gets very weak.

She is 81 with multiple health problems, but the UTIs are the most frightening.

UTI is also a quick way to have someone admitted following insurance/medicare rules.... people come in for "dizziness" and get admitted for UTI....

I think medical billing is still a good business to get in...For now...