Indwelling urinary catheter use and associated outcomes among adult patients undergoing surgery

Background: Indwelling Urinary catheters (IUCs) are the most utilized devices. They are complicated into postoperative catheter-associated urinary tract infections, urethral trauma, pain that culminate into prolonged immobility and hospital stay with associated financial implications. The aim of this review was to give an overview of the use of indwelling catheters among adult patients undergoing surgery.Methods: A systematic review approach was employed. A literature search was done using of search engines that include HINARI, PubMed, Google Scholar and Cochrane, using search words related to the title and aim of the review.Results: Eleven out of 236 articles involving 218,000,790 patients studied met the inclusion criteria. 86% to 87.3% of patients undergoing major operations were exposed to routine catheterization depending on the type of surgical procedure. Only 7.7% to 8% of patients needed postoperative IUCs. Unduly prolonged retention of IUCs was the most reason for inappropriate IUCs use with 18% without a documented removal order. IUCs contributed 80% to 87.8% of postoperative UTIs as the third most common postoperative infections.Conclusion: Use of IUCs is necessary for certain surgeries as per existing guidelines. The lack of IUC removal instructions is one of the factors contributing to CAUTIs._________________________________________________________________________Keywords: indwelling urinary catheter, CAUTI, surgery, perioperativ