Female urinary catheterization. Was it done properly?

I went to urologist today. He is an older, old-school doctor. No bedside manner, but knows his stuff. He diagnosed me 15 months ago with intersticial cystitis. Doc did an ultrasound today and said I had urinary retention and he broke out the catheter. Never had this before. I asked is it was okay to do it since I started mentruating yesterday and had a tampon in. No prob, he said. Then he says okay drop your drawers. So there I am on the table with nothing but a thin paper cover that ended up above my waist anyway with a tampon string hanging out. (It felt pretty humiliating.) Doc put on gloves, but didn’t seem to use any sterile techniques. No sterile drape. I don’t think he did any sterile cleansing of the area. He just started prodding around to find the uretha and stuck the catheter in. After the procedure, during which 4 cc’s of urine was passed, he ordered a cysto and ultrasound. Then gave me a scrip for an antibiotic to take for two days to make sure that I don’t get infection from cath. Am I overreacting, or does this sound way to unsanitary and informal?
Thanks Booyah. As if the whole process were not humiliating enough, you ask if I know that blood and urine come from different holes? Of course I do. But I also know that those “holes” are very close to one another. And I’ve given many urine samples where I’m told to do clean catch specimen which requires wiping with a sterile cleaning cloth. So I am wondering if the lack of sterile technique could increase chance of infection and whether those who are familiar with the procedure would find his techniques concerning.
Thanks to all of those who took time to provide thoughtful responses (the others…wondering why they bother to respond). I will be changing docs. thanks.

About admin

He is a blogger that loves to share anything what new things in the world.
This entry was posted in Health and Fitness and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

4 Responses to Female urinary catheterization. Was it done properly?

  1. Booyah! says:

    that sounds about right. He could have cleaned down there too, but that’s just being formal about it. he go the job done and that’s all there is. you do know that your blood and your urine come from different holes right? just because he doesnt have a sterile drape doesnt mean it wasnt clean. he just used aseptic techniques.

  2. froy says:

    an antiseptic solution like betadine should be used to clean the labia before inserting a catheter and i dont know if the doctor was unsterile that time because i need to see what really happened for me to conclude that it was really unsterile. the only thing that i am sure of though is that you need to get a new female doctor. never go to a doctor if you are uncomfortable with him/her.

  3. YokelRidesAgain says:

    I’m more put off by the antibiotic prescription than the methodology. No, this wasn’t done “by the book”, but neither are 99% of urinary catheterizations outside of an operating room. If the procedure was done in a truly “sterile” fashion, the doctor would have swabbed your entire perineum with betadine, etc., several times, put on a sterile drape, etc. Many people who have to rely on urinary catheterization regularly just clean a cathether off and insert in the proper orifice, without difficulty.

    The antibiotic use, though, suggests that either the person is really, really sloppy and gets a lot of infections in his patients or (more likely) just likes to forestall complaints with overuse of antibiotics.

    More to the point, you clearly don’t like your doctor. Get a new one. If you leave an appointment in which you have to take your pants off and you feel bad enough to take to the Internet to express concern about it, something is wrong with the relationship between you and the doctor.

    You have a complaint that bothers you, but isn’t going to kill you or cause you serious disability. If we were talking about coronary bypass or similarly life threatening problem it might be worth trying to fix the relationship, but for something like this I would just move on.

  4. Jarrett Green says:

    Cystitis is caused by bacteria infecting the bladder (severe cystitis) or by non-bacterial inflammation caused by irritation.By far the most common treatment method at the moment prescribed by your GP or doctor is antibiotic therapy.I suggest you have herbals. Diuretic and Anti-inflammatory Pill is a traditional chinese medicine that has an unique effect on curing cystitis.Antibiotics have no effect on your disease.

Leave a Reply