These professionals had no knowledge of
which group (control or intervention) a patient was
assigned to. If a patient had no indication for use
of a urinary catheter by the seventh day of catheterization,
the investigator (M.M.C.) would remind the
patient’s nurse by making a note on the reminder
sheet, and the patient’s nurse would contact a physician
to remove the catheter. In other words, the
physicians and nurses who provided care to patients
in intervention group had no knowledge of the
patients’ group, and until the seventh day, the physicians
had been reminded to assess whether removal
of a patient’s urinary catheter was appropriate. The
investigator (M.M.C.) responsible for the daily
identification and assessment of all patients with
indwelling urinary catheters, however, knew which
group each patient was assigned to.
Insertion and