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Maintenance of closed urinary drainage systems: are practitioners more aware of the dangers?
Author(s) -
MULHALL ANNE B.,
KING SUE,
LEE KAREN,
WIGGINGTON EMMA
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2702.1993.tb00152.x
Subject(s) - medicine , drainage , bacteriuria , prospective cohort study , urinary system , intensive care medicine , indwelling catheter , urinary catheterization , emergency medicine , nursing , catheter , surgery , ecology , biology
Summary• An indwelling urethral catheter predisposes patients to local or systemic infection, and to problems related to infection such as encrustation. Although some infections may be unavoidable others, in particular those originating from contaminated drainage bags, may be related to nursing management. • A prospective longitudinal study recorded the errors in practice occurring during the care of 334 patients in a UK district general hospital. Independent observations of bag emptying by nurses were recorded for 66 patients. • Disconnections occurred on 107/972 (11%) occasions, incorrect techniques when emptying the drainage bag were observed on 6–7% of occasions; but incorrect positioning of the bag was rarely recorded. • Significant bacteriuria occurred in 88/334 patients, but cultures from the nurses gloved hands were consistently negative. These results are compared with those obtained during a survey in 1984, and the implications for nursing practice discussed.