Those include both formal diagnoses and symptoms consistent with one that required a doctor’s attention.

Infections were reported by just over 10 percent of patients. In all, 57 percent of the patients said they’d experienced at least one complication. The catheter was removed within three days of insertion for 76 percent of the patients. The team went back to each patient twice - two weeks and one month after their catheter placement, respectively - and asked about their catheter-related experiences.īecause two of the hospitals in the study are Veterans Affairs hospitals, nearly three-quarters of the patients were male. MORE FROM THE LAB: Subscribe to our we ekly newsletter Most of them received the catheter because they were having surgery. He is also chief of medicine at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System, George Dock professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan and director of the U-M/VA Patient Safety Enhancement Program.įor the new study, Saint and his colleagues from U-M, the Ann Arbor VA and two Texas hospitals analyzed data from 2,076 patients who had recently had a catheter placed for short-term use. “Our findings underscore the importance of avoiding an indwelling urinary catheter unless it is absolutely necessary and removing it as soon as possible,” says Sanjay Saint, M.D., MPH, lead author of the new study. Those issues include pain, bloody urine and activity restrictions while the catheter was still in trouble with urinating and sexual function can occur after the device was removed.

Īlthough many patient safety experts have focused on UTIs that can arise from indwelling urinary catheters, also called Foley catheters, that risk is five times less common than noninfectious problems, the study found. The results are published in JAMA Internal Medicine. More than half of catheterized hospital patients experienced a complication, according to in-depth interviews and chart reviews from more than 2,000 patients. LISTEN UP: Add the new Michigan Medicine News Break to your Alexa-enabled device, or subscribe to our daily audio updates on iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher. A new study puts large-scale evidence behind what many hospital patients already know: Having a urinary catheter may help empty the bladder - but it can also be painful, lead to urinary tract infections and cause other issues in the hospital and beyond.

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