Urinary catheter

[Roman_NB]

Why is it that when nurses insert a urinary catheter it has to be a sterile procedure but at home a person can just store their catheter in a food bag that's not sterile. Is that a dangerous thing to do? What if they don't clean it right before they insert it?

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

Because at home the patient is exposed to their own flora and 'contaminants'. In the hospital /facility setting there are hundreds if not thousands of microorganisms many virulent and antibiotic resistant.

In the home environment the incidence of UTI d/t self-catheterization using clean technique is significantly lower than even intermittent catheterization using sterile technique in a hospital/institution setting.