We recently partnered with Clinisupplies, which is a company that provides care organisations with high quality medical devices that are fully compliant with strict UK specifications. As experts in the area, they shared an article with us about common catheter care issues and the training and services they can offer to help avoid them. We hope you will find the information useful – please read below for the full article:
Indwelling urinary catheters can often provide a challenge for the service user living with a catheter and for the carers supporting them. Catheter associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) is a major problem and around 50% of all urine infections are as a direct result of having an indwelling catheter in place.
Identifying CAUTIs can be challenging as a CAUTI has similar symptoms to a typical urinary tract infection (UTI). These symptoms include:
- Cloudy urine
- Blood in the urine
- Strong urine odour
- Urine leakage around the catheter
- Pressure, pain, or discomfort in your lower back or stomach
- Hills
- Fever
- Unexplained fatigue
- Vomiting
- In elderly people, changes in mental status or confusion
In addition to infection, patients can also experience bladder spasm, bypassing of urine around the catheter, and blockage where no urine flows from the catheter. Without a focused approach to catheter care and management, residents can develop problems which might result in them ending up in a hospital accident and emergency department, or at the very least requiring a course of antibiotics.
Due to the challenges that can be found caring for patients with catheters, Clinisupplies provide free training events to give both nurses and healthcare assistants the resources to understand catheter care and also improve knowledge around the different needs for each patient, such as; catheter Charier (CH) sizing, lengths, different types of drainage collection bags, and information regarding the balloon and tip size. These are certificated events that can be used as part of your continued professional development evidence and will provide the most up to date information and clinical evidence on catheter management.
Clinisupplies also work with the service user and the carer to establish an individualised catheter regime. Through the availability of a clinical nurse, who specialises in continence and ostomy, they can come and review your service user’s product usage to ensure that they are using the right products and not developing any clinical issues. This visit is also a great opportunity for your staff to receive some personal clinical training and ask any specific questions about the appliances being used.
As well as a specialised nursing service, Clinisupplies also offer a delivery service, Clinidirect4u, which delivers your service user’s medical appliances when they need them most. The Clinidirect4u highly trained customer care team can assist you with all your service users’ medical device prescriptions. To support you with this they have a dedicated phone line for Care Professionals to discuss their service user’s needs. Please feel free to call 0800 559 3920 to register for the home delivery service or visit our website www.clinidirect4u.co.uk.
If you wish to discuss educational support or clinical nursing please do not hesitate to contact Darian.Uys@clinisupplies.co.uk explaining that you are an HCPA Member.