About the Continence and Catheter Care programme

elearning for excellence in continence and catheter care comprises two sessions: Promoting best practice in continence care and Promoting best practice in catheter care. The programme has been developed by the Oxford Academic Health Science Network, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in partnership with Health Education England elearning for healthcare and Health Education England Thames Valley. This programme, aimed at nursing staff and health care assistants across all care settings, aims to improve knowledge and awareness of all aspects of continence and catheter care. The programme includes discussion of the different types of incontinence and the therapies and treatments that can be offered to patients. Emphasis will be placed on avoiding catheterisation and on strategies for reducing the risk of catheter acquired urinary tract infection (CAUTI) in situations where catheterisation is unavoidable. The elearning sessions should be used as an adjunct to face-to-face teaching sessions on catheterisation.

Providing high quality continence care is an essential part of basic nursing care but it is an area that is often not well understood. Urinary incontinence can have a profound impact on a person’s life, often leading to social isolation which can lead to a deterioration in physical and mental health. Poor continence care can exacerbate this. Nursing staff should be able to recognise those who are at risk of being incontinent and support them to maintain their continence. Nurses should also support patients who are incontinent to regain their continence.

Catheterisation is often inappropriately used to manage incontinence, in many cases being used as a first resort strategy for incontinence rather than as a last resort after all other options have been explored. Catheterisation is an invasive procedure, which carries an inherent risk of CAUTI. Bacteriuria develops in approximately 30% of catheterised patients after 2–10 days, and 24% of these will develop symptoms of CAUTI. CAUTI represents a significant patient harm with around 4% of patients who acquire a CAUTI going on to develop sepsis or bacteraemia. In addition to the harm caused to patients, CAUTI represents a financial burden to the NHS in terms of increased length of stay and treatment costs.

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