Essay On Intermittent Catheterization

A hospital stay is normally associated with only increasing a patient’s overall well-being. However, that is not always the case. While the health-care team is fully taking care of a patient’s needs, human dignity can sometimes be lost. Hospital acquired infections, such as catheter associated urinary tract infections, can also pose a threat to a patient’s well-being. Nurses must be trained to combat both of these problems simultaneously. Intermittent catheterization, allowing the patient to be involved in the insertion and removal of a catheter, and educating patients on the use of indwelling catheters can increase human dignity and decrease catheter associated urinary tract infections. Intermittent catheterization is when a catheter is inserted to drain the bladder and is immediately taken out once the bladder is emptied. The use of intermittent catheterization over indwelling catheterization can increase human dignity, especially in home settings, by allowing patients to have more independence in their self-care (Woodward, Steggal, & Tinhunu, 2013). Indwelling catheters contain drainage systems that can be embarrassing and inconvenient for patient’s. Intermittent catheterization gets rid of the drainage systems, allowing

In order to combat this, a nurse must find ways to increase human dignity while also decreasing the likelihood that an infection will be acquired by the patient. The use of an indwelling catheter is a known threat to human dignity and can cause urinary tract infections. The use of intermittent catheterization, allowing the patient to be involved in the decision to insert or remove a catheter, and educating the patient on catheterization can increase human dignity while decreasing cases of catheter associated urinary tract