A new urethral catheterisation device (UCD) to manage difficult urethral catheterisation

Abstract

The cost of urethral catheterisation injury (UCI) is significant, but the true incidence of patient care error is difficult to establish in the absence of specific hospital codes recording difficult urethral catheterisation (DUC) and UCI. For many years urologists are familiar passing a non-traumatic hydrophilic guidewire blindly into the bladder to aid urethral catheter insertion in difficult circumstances. However, so far, no purpose-built regulated medical device was available on the market and clinicians had to improvise. Urethrotech filled that gap and developed the Urethral Catheterisation Device (UCD®), which integrates a standard hydrophilic Nitinol guidewire into a 3-way 16F Silicone urethral catheter design to enable safe second-line urethral catheterisation when first-line catheterisation with a standard urethral catheter is unsuccessful. The safety and efficacy of UCD® catheterisation were evaluated in consecutive cohorts of men undergoing cardiac surgery and compared to the incidence of DUC and UCI with standard Foley catheterisation. A simple new Male Catheterisation Algorithm is proposed that can deliver a safe male urethral catheterisation treatment protocol for all clinical settings of healthcare services, which is easy to implement and integrate into standard catheterisation training programs to manage DUC and avoid UCI, empowering a frontline workforce to deliver better patient care.