Question about catheters...

[CrazierThanYou]

forgive me if this is a stupid question. i'm just starting nursing school in august so i'm just getting started.

i keep seeing that commercial where the woman is lamenting on how she must reuse catheters and she was sooooo tired of boiling, drying, and reusing catheters all day long.

what i am wondering is, what kind of condition might one have that would require all those catheters?

thanks!

[sivad05]

No problem, the background information helped bring it home! My mother complains about the foley catheter but her only alternative is surgery to divert her bladder. She is high risk for surgery so, when she weighs the pros and cons, she becomes more content with the foley catheter. She's had the foley catheter for almost a year now, with two short breaks that lead to an acute UTI.

I'm about to go OT a little.

Yes, any time a foreign body is introduced into a sterile area such as the bladder, the chances of infection are increased. Yes, a "straight cath" is a foreign body being introduced into the bladder.

However...

if sterile technique is followed, than the chances of infection are much less than if a catheter remains in the bladder which is the case with an indwelling (Foley) catheter. Sterile technique is used to insert the indwelling catheter, but that is where sterility ends. Many health care facilities have very strict criteria for allowing inpatients to have indwelling catheters because of the association with infections.

Sorry to hijack.

[Ivanna_Nurse, BSN, RN]

"I'm really glad Holly (I think that's her name) finally received her sterile cath kits." CamaroNurse, you made me LOL ~Ivanna

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

I had to self-cath at home for a period of time, not to empty my bladder, but to instill medication directly into my bladder (to treat interstitial cystitis). It was a mix of bicarb, lidocaine, and Elmiron. The alternative was going to the clinic two or three times a week for six weeks, and that was too much of a pain in the neck to work around my work schedule, so I learned to do it myself.

I sat on the bathroom floor with a mirror. Must have been a sight.

[CrazierThanYou]

I had to self-cath at home for a period of time, not to empty my bladder, but to instill medication directly into my bladder (to treat interstitial cystitis). It was a mix of bicarb, lidocaine, and Elmiron. The alternative was going to the clinic two or three times a week for six weeks, and that was too much of a pain in the neck to work around my work schedule, so I learned to do it myself.

I sat on the bathroom floor with a mirror. Must have been a sight.

I'm sure its necessary in many situations but wow, it sounds so painful. The only time I was cathed was while in labor and then I didn't really feel it.

[cherrybreeze, ADN, RN]

I'm sure its necessary in many situations but wow, it sounds so painful. The only time I was cathed was while in labor and then I didn't really feel it.

You get used to it, really. Once you've done it a few times, it doesn't hurt, per say...you can feel it, but it's not painful.

Then again, I never thought it was truly *painful* even when I first had it done. Having a cystoscopy in the office, now that might be another story (luckily, I had a hydrodistention with my cysto, so it was done under a general). I'm always a little baffled when people say it "really, really hurt" to have a straight cath or foley placed. It's not the most comfortable thing in the world, but I wouldn't have called it painful....

For people that self cath on a regular basis, especially several times a day, they get to the point that they're so used to it, they don't really feel it any more.

[Penelope_Pitstop, BSN, RN]

"I'm really glad Holly (I think that's her name) finally received her sterile cath kits." CamaroNurse, you made me LOL ~Ivanna

Update: her name IS Holly.

I just saw a new commercial starring Holly. It starts by showing a clip from the first commercial, then cut to Holly, now with straightened hair, and she says "that was me three years ago..."

So we can all rest assured that Holly is continuing to self-cath and doing well in life!