An evidence-based approach to urinary catheter changes.

Many people in the community have a urinary catheter that is routinely changed by a community nurse. People with urinary catheters can experience a number of problems including catheter blockages. A blocked catheter causes great distress and inconvenience to the person and places a strain on the resources of community nursing organizations because of the need for unscheduled visits to change the catheter. A procedure that enabled catheter changes to be planned before they blocked would reduce patient distress and better assist community nursing organizations with resource management. The planned catheter change approach is a procedure that community nurses can use to better plan urinary catheter changes to minimize complications. In this article the author presents the outcomes from the implementation of a planned approach to catheter care in a home nursing service in Melbourne, Australia.