Objective: To determine staff awareness, knowledge and documentation of catheter use and the effects these have on duration of catheterisation and time of catheter removal in patients with indwelling urinary catheters (IDC).
Design: Observational study
Setting: 2 general medical wards in a tertiary hospital in Melbourne
Participants: Patients with IDC and their nursing and medical staff.
Methods: Participants were each surveyed using a standard tool addressing awareness of the catheter, insertion date, indications, duration of catheterisation and time for catheter removal.
Results: Overall there was poor knowledge of the indications and date of catheterisation amongst all participants. The mean duration of catheterisation was 5.8 ± 4.7 days (range 1–21) decreasing to 4.1 ± 2.4 days (range 1–8;p=0.03) and 3.9 ± 2.4 days (range 1–8;p=0.12) when the doctor knew the catheter was in and the date of insertion respectively. When the insertion date and indication was documented the mean duration was reduced to 4.9 ± 5.3 days (range 1–21;p=0.30) and 3.2 ± 2.8 days (range 1–8;p=0.16). When the removal order was communicated verbally the mean time for removal was 5 hours 39 minutes ± 7’59 (range 0’15–21’55) versus 7 hours 34 minutes ± 9’21 (range 0–28’30) when it was only documented (p=0.60).
Conclusions: Documentation and doctor awareness of indication and date of catheterisation decreases the length of catheterisation. Proper verbal and written communication between medical and nursing staff decreases time taken for catheter removal.