Authors' objectives: Identify and summarize evidence on the placement and/or removal of indwelling urinary catheters (IUC) by a dedicated staff member or team.

Authors' results and conclusions: EVIDENCE SUMMARY ▪ The Mayo Clinic has a dedicated team of urology technicians who place indwelling urinary catheters (IUC) in all patients who need them. At most other hospitals, including all UPHS hospitals, appropriately trained nurses place IUCs as part of their routine duties. ▪ The only study comparing a dedicated IUC placement team to usual care was conducted in Brazil and published as an abstract only. It reported that CA-UTI rates declined following the intervention, but we cannot attribute the effect solely to the establishment of the IUC placement team: the study was confounded by additional education and other interventions done as part of a multifactorial effort to reduce CA-UTI at the hospital. ▪ Three studies have reported on a specialized team for managing difficult IUC placements: these patients can be defined either by specific patient characteristics or as those in whom the initial IUC placement attempt(s) was unsuccessful. These studies are affected by the same confounding problem as the study described above, but they found reduced CA-UTI rates and reduced IUC insertion trauma following the intervention. ▪ We are unable to draw any conclusions about the size of the effect these interventions have on CA-UTI or other adverse events. ▪ A specialized team for managing difficult IUC placements reduces the need for consulting with a urologist for placement of the IUC. The evidence grade for this conclusion is low due to risk of bias in the published studies.

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 2025

URL for published report: https://www.med.upenn.edu/CEP/external-request-form.html

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Rapid Review

Country: United States

Organisation Name: Penn Medicine Center for Evidence-based Practice

Contact Address: Penn Medicine Center for Evidence-based Practice, University of Pennsylvania Health System, 3600 Civic Center Blvd, 3rd Floor West, Philadelphia PA 19104

Contact Name: Nikhil Mull

Contact Email: cep@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

Copyright: <p>Center for Evidence-based Practice (CEP)</p>