Preventing Infections from Foley Catheters

What is a Foley Catheter?

At some time, you or someone you know may have a catheter. Catheters are used for patients with many disorders, procedures or problems, such as

  • Difficultly urinating or emptying the bladder
  • Obstruction of the urethra that makes it difficult for you to urinate: prostate hypertrophy, prostate cancer, or narrowing of the urethra
  • Urine output monitoring in a critically ill or injured patient
  • Collection of a sterile urine specimen for diagnostic purposes
  • Imaging study of the lower urinary tract 
  • After surgery 

Patients who have a urine collection device (Foley catheter) are at high risk for a urinary tract infection. The longer a patient has a Foley catheter in place to drain urine from his or her bladder, the higher the risk of infection. The medical term for an infection that happens to a patient with a Foley catheter iscatheter-associated urinary tract infection.

Preventive Steps

Vidant Health is committed to preventing infections caused by Foley catheters. Our doctors and nurses follow these steps to keep you safe from urinary tract infection. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), hospitals should use a protocol called the Foley Bundle to help reduce infections.

  • We use a Foley catheter only when we have no other choice.
  • We try to find other ways for you to use the toilet — such as a bedpan or a bedside commode.
  • We make sure the catheter tubing is secured to your leg.
  • We take out the Foley catheter as soon as possible.
  • We keep the urine bag below the level of your bladder
  • We make sure the urine tube does not kink.

You can help

You can help yourself or a family member who has a Foley catheter, by reading over the steps above and engaging in your care. Ask questions if you are not sure your caregivers are following these steps.

How are we doing?

Some members of our Vidant Health staff are trained as special monitors. These monitors watch out for patients who have Foley catheters. They check to see if staff is following the steps to prevent infection.

If you click on one of the hospitals on the right, you can see if that hospital is doing a good job of preventing infections caused by Foley catheters.

Label