Senior Home Care Interventions For Catheter Patients
Posted on: 19 April 2023
If your elderly loved one uses an indwelling urinary catheter and has physical or cognitive deficits that prevent them from performing catheter care, a senior home care provider may be able to help. The caregiver can work with both you and the individual's primary care physician to determine which interventions and goals are needed pertaining to catheter care. Here are some ways a senior home care provider can assist your aging loved one with their urinary catheter and bladder needs.
Catheter Irrigation And Tubing Changes
To maintain the patency of the catheter, it must be irrigated. If your loved one is unable to irrigate their catheter, it may become blocked or kinked. If this happens, the backflow of urine into the bladder may lead to a bacterial infection and urethral irritation. While the senior home care provider is irrigating the elderly individual's catheter, they will assess the tube for patency and evaluate the urine for sediment, cloudiness, and bleeding.
If any abnormalities are noticed during the irrigation process, the caregiver will notify the person's primary care doctor. If the tube is clogged or kinked, the doctor may ask the caregiver to replace it with new tubing and irrigate it again. If the urine still does not flow freely from the catheter tube into the urine collection bag, the physician may recommend that your loved one visit the office or go to the hospital for further evaluation.
Intake And Output
The primary care doctor may also want an intake and output record kept while your loved one has an indwelling urinary catheter. The intake and output will be recorded on an "I & O" sheet. In one column, the caregiver will document how much fluid the patient took in, and in another column, the caregiver will document how much fluid was urinated.
Monitoring intake and output is especially important when people are on a fluid restrictive diet because of congestive heart failure or severe edema. If your aging loved one is drinking large amounts of water but only urinating small amounts, the senior home care provider may need to take them to the doctor's office or hospital to determine if there is a problem with the bladder or kidneys.
If your loved one uses an indwelling urinary catheter and is unable to perform catheter care, consider hiring a senior home care professional. When adequate catheter care and monitoring of intake and output are implemented, the risk for urinary tract infections and urinary retention may be less likely to occur.
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