Background: The effects of non-infectious urinary catheter-related complications such as measurements of indwelling urinary catheter overuse, catheter-related trauma, and urinary retention are not well understood.
Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 200 patients undergoing general surgery operations. Variables to measure urinary catheter use, trauma, and retention were developed, then surgical cases were abstracted. Inter- and intra-rater reliability were calculated for measure validation.
Results: 129 of 200 (65%) had an indwelling urinary catheter placed at the time of surgery. 32 patients (16%) had urinary retention, and variation was observed in the treatment of urinary retention. 12 patients (6%) had urinary trauma. Rater reliability was high (>90% agreement for all) for the dichotomous outcomes of urinary catheter use, urinary catheter-related trauma, and urinary retention.
Conclusions: This study suggests a persistent high rate of catheter use, significant rates of urinary retention and trauma, and variation in the management of retention.
Keywords: Health care; Outcome assessment; Postoperative complications; Urethral injury; Urinary catheters; Urinary retention.
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