Inpatient surgical care: urinary catheter removed within 48 hours after surgery

A urinary catheter is a thin tube inserted through the urethra and into the bladder to help people drain urine when they are not fully able to do so on their own or when they cannot or should not move to get to a restroom. Catheters are usually attached to a bag that collects the urine. Sometimes surgical patients need to have a urinary catheter inserted into their bladder to help drain the urine during and after surgery.

Sometimes surgery patients develop infections when urinary catheters are left in place too long after surgery. Although most infections are mild, some infections can lead to serious complications, and should be avoided if possible.

Research shows that most surgery patients should have their urinary catheters removed within two days (48 hours) after surgery to prevent infection. Surgery patients can develop infections when urinary catheters are left in place too long after surgery. Infections are dangerous for patients, cause longer hospital stays, and increase costs. When hospitals remove urinary catheters within 48 hours, it may indicate that the hospital provides a higher level of patient care.

About measure

This measure tracks the percent of surgery patients with urinary catheters whose catheters were removed on the first or second day after surgery.

Northwestern Memorial Hospital wants to provide the most up to date data. For this measure, our data is from a more recent time period than the benchmark time period.

Note: In this measure, a higher number is better.