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The impetus to reduce Foley catheter use in hospitalized patients comes mostly from a desire to prevent catheter-associated urinary infections. However, anyone who practices inpatient medicine is familiar with the agitated older man who yanks at his Foley catheter and induces traumatic injury to the bladder or urethra. Researchers at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs hospital collected data prospectively on all hospitalized patients with Foley catheters during a 16-month period and determined the incidence of Foley-related trauma.
During 6500 patient-days of Foley catheter use, 89 patients suffered 100 instances of catheter-associated genitourinary trauma. Among the adverse events were 11 cases of “creation of a false passage,” 7 cases of pro…