Joint formulary for urinary catheter products
As a direct result of integration, the continence service
has been able to achieve a standardised product formulary
for patients requiring catheter products. Patients in
Newcastle have access to the same products within acute
and community, settings, providing seamless transfer of
care. Within the community there is now a formulary
summary providing quick and easy access to products. The
joint formulary has ensured that there is standardisation
of prescribing across Newcastle. Practitioners have the
correct information, which is safe and effective, to support
their practice when prescribing catheter appliances. One
formulary provides cost-effective prescribing while offering
quality and safeguarding the interest of the patient. Using
a formulary across the whole trust allows the patient to
receive the best quality equipment as reviewed by the
trust. This includes reviews from specialist nurses from all
areas of care, physiotherapists, infection prevention and
control specialists, and supplies and pharmacy. Before the
introduction of a joint formulary, the patient may not have
received the best products, as the prescribers may not have
evaluated all products available. This has now been done
and the team continues to re-evaluate the formulary on a
regular basis.
Patient catheter record booklet
The patient catheter record booklet was developed before
transformation, but as a result of a transformation this
booklet has been implemented throughout Newcastle. It
is a comprehensive document that incorporates relevant
information about the urinary catheter for the patient, carer
and health professional. The booklet follows the patient
through his/her journey of care between healthcare settings,
enabling the patient to take ownership of his/her urinary
catheter care.
Both the formulary and the catheter record booklet
generated a challenge to review the equipment that was
being used for the insertion of a urinary catheter; the main
focus being the insertion pack.
The community urinary catheter insertion
and removal pack
Effective prevention and management of CAUTI needs
to be embedded in everyday practice. Aseptic non-touch
technique (ANTT) is a framework that both ‘standardises
and raises clinical standards whilst undertaking aseptic clinical
procedures’ (Rowley et al, 2010). Within the community
setting this can be particularly challenging when inserting a
urinary catheter; the principles are exactly the same as when
catheterising a patient in the acute setting but adapting to
the changing environments is the greatest challenge for
community nurses.
When inserting a urinary catheter the ANTT framework
was designed to avoid potential contamination of susceptible ‘key sites’, i.e. the urethra. This is achieved by using
uncontaminated equipment, a sterile urinary catheter, a
sterile drainage system and catherisation packs, which are the
‘key parts’ (Rowley et al, 2010)
The ANTT guidelines have been designed to ensure the
health professionals can identify and protect the key parts
during a procedure, institute a non-touch technique, ensure
effective hand decontamination is undertaken and personal
protective equipment is used at the appropriate time.
The key principles of ANTT are:
■■Use standard infection control precautions, always
decontaminate hands, use personal protective equipment
(PPE). During catheterisation, sterile gloves should be
worn as this is a sterile procedure
■■Never contaminate ‘key parts’ and touch ‘non key parts’
■■Maintain an aseptic field at all times, a clean working
environment and an aseptic field are essential precautions
for all clinical procedures
■■Ensure only sterile items come into contact with
susceptible sites.
Within the community setting, maintaining a sterile field in
a clean working environment has not always been achievable,
and having the correct equipment available has been key to
helping practitioners to work within the ANTT framework.
The continence service and district nursing services at
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
have worked with a manufacturer to produce a community
urinary catheter insertion and removal pack. The pack
consists of two separate compartments, packaged on top of
each other in one single pack, each compartment with PPE,
for the removal of the patient’s existing urinary catheter and
for reinsertion of his/her new urinary catheter. The separate
compartments encourage the practitioner to see each process
(removal and insertion) as two separate procedures, therefore
reducing the risk of contamination and infection. Each
compartment has its own sterile field, patient protection
sheets, sterile gloves and aprons; this allows the practitioner
to remove the urinary catheter as per the trust guidelines.
Once removal of the catheter is completed, the practitioner
can prepare for reinsertion as a separate procedure with a
new sterile field—which is much larger than the normal
sheet to allow a greater sterile surface area within the home
setting—new gloves and apron prompting effective hand
washing between removal and insertion as well as before and
after insertion of the urinary catheter, which ensures the ‘key
sites’ and ‘key parts’ are not contaminated during this sterile
procedure.
The catheter packs were piloted and evaluated in two
community settings with great success; the district nurses
reported that the design of the pack allowed them to remove
the patient’s urinary catheter appropriately then follow
the trust re-catheterisation procedure. The district nurses
found that the convenience of having all equipment in one
place allowed efficiency when preparing for the visit to the
patient’s home. When carrying out the procedure, they felt
reassured that the catheterisation was carried out safely, using
ANTT strategies appropriately without having to leave the
patient for forgotten pieces of equipment or using make do
equipment such as basic dressing packs. The pack encouraged hand hygiene between removal and insertion of the urinary
catheter, as each pack prompted the nurse to apply PPE
before removal and then re-insertion. The packs are now
available for use by all community practitioners through the
supplies department within Newcastle.
Conclusion
Adherence to catheter care standards and national guidelines
plays a pivotal role in reducing nosocomical infection. These
standards and guidelines emphasise the important elements
of not only ensuring safe insertion of a urinary catheter, but
factors for ongoing catheter management and care. The work
that has been developed within the Newcastle Hospitals
for catheter care incorporates real-time initiatives that assist
practitioners in their every day practice.
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
continence service works across the city to support catheter
care in primary, secondary and community care settings
both nursing and residential, patient’s own homes, nurse-led
clinics, day care centres and regionally within the acute trust.
A selection of the initiatives described have been adopted
in neighbouring trusts, with a plan to have a north of Tyne
catheter formulary to work alongside the patient-held catheter
record book, which will provide consistency for patients and
organisations living and working in the north of Tyne area.
The simple idea of the removal and insertion pack is being
publicised within private care settings and is recommended for
adoption for their patients with a urinary catheter.
The provision of a well-coordinated continence service
is a specific recommendation in a number of recently
published national policy documents. The transformation of
acute and community continence services has presented a
great opportunity to improve standards and practice within
the trust. All improvements have been supported by the
development of a range of work streams to ensure that a
consistent, effective and efficient continence care is provided
to all.
Future work streams that have been identified as a result of the
developments in catheter care management in the Newcastle
upon Tyne NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust include:
■■Further development of catheter insertion documentation
to ensure compliance with best practice guidelines
■■An alert to trigger staff to consider when to remove the
urinary catheter
■■Establish partnerships with care homes to offer support to prevent avoidable admissions for CAUTIs and UTIs
■■Further education of clinical staff to ensure that the need
for catheter insertion and continued catheterisation is
reviewed
■■Trust-wide ANTT competency frameworks for
catheterisation for all health professionals.