Anaesthesia | General ICU Care | Catheter Insertion

Catheter Insertion
Session Overview
Description
This session describes the technique of insertion of short term indwelling urinary catheters in the adult critical care population.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Identify the indications for placement of short term indwelling urinary catheters
• List the different types and uses of urinary catheters in UK use
• Explain briefly national guidance on catheter use
• Identify normal adult male and female anatomy as relevant to the practice of catheter insertion
• Describe the techniques of male and female catheterisation

A urinary catheter is a flexible tube, with a rounded, closed tip, used to empty the bladder and collect urine into a container.

They are inserted either via the urethra, or via the abdominal wall. There are two main types of catheter: indwelling, which remain in place by an inflated balloon in the bladder, and intermittent catheters, which are held in place until the bladder is empty and then withdrawn.

This session will only cover indwelling urethral catheters.

The basics of catheterisation are gender neutral, but you may have learnt by this point that male and female genitourinary systems are different, and so techniques for male and female insertion will be discussed.