Does anyone really need 200 catheters/month? We say: “Absolutely”.
It’s true, there is no definitive study one way or the other; but Urologist and Nursing Associations have said: “No; just put it in, take it out, clean it and use it again!” In fact, if someone were to use the Clean Technique of sterilizing the catheter before and after each use, the catheter could be reused up to 50 times/week. Let you mind dwell on that….yuk!
Home Care Together, a Medicare accredited National Supplier of catheter products ask you to consider this scenario: A catheter user takes his/her grandchildren to Great America Theme Park. After morning coffee, it’s “Bathroom Time”! Ok; put it in, empty the bladder, take it out. Go to the public sink and wash it out… in front of the grandchildren?... the son or daughter?... some person behind you waiting?
If you can get past that visual, ask yourself: “now where do I put it…in my pocket? Do it again after lunch and the soda you enjoyed with the kids and then do it again before you get into the car to travel back home and again and again and…get the visual?
The other day one grandfather said bluntly: “It’s a pain in the butt!” After finding out that Medicare’s policy allows: “Up to 200/month”, he just rolled his eyes. I don’t want to be his urologist at the next office visit in a couple of weeks. What? Are we trying to save an extra dollar at the risk of expensive infections?
The National Spinal Cord Injury Association {NSCIA} reported on August 12, 2008 the following:
- “Sixty-five percent of intermittent catheter users get urinary tract infections at least once/year, compared to 14 percent in the general Medicare population”.
- Intermittent catheter users are approximately five times more likely to have at least one urinary tract infection/year.
- Medicare-covered per capita cost of treating urinary tract infections was 8-10 times higher for intermittent catheter users ($1,434/spinal cord injury capita and $1,154/spina bifida capita) than the average ($83/capita)
- About $3.5 billion is spent nationally in annual urinary tract infection evaluation and treatment.
Dr. Green, director of Urology at the Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Ga., and published author writes: “No longer does the patient have to clean his or her catheter after each use. The new policy offers greater patient convenience and reduces the incidence of improper catheterization techniques. It can potentially reduce the cross contamination of bacteria, thus reducing the incidence of urinary tract infections and mitigating significant health care costs associated with urinary tract infections.” http://www.spinalcord.org/news
So, does anyone need 200 catheters/month? Ask yourself: “If I went to the bathroom 5 times/day, WHAT WOULD I WANT?”
Home Care Together
gary
2 comments:
Blue Neem Medical Devices Pvt. Ltd. is a medical device manufacturing company providing high quality medical devices in the field of Ureteral Stents, DJ Stents, Catheters, Variceal Multiband Ligator, Stone Baskets, Turp Loops, Biliary Stents, Urology Products,Nephrostomy Catheters, and Gastroenterology Products in India.
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The first is known as a transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP). This is the commonest form of surgery used in BPH treatment and involves the removal of the inner core of the prostate. The procedure is performed under general anesthetic (or using a spinal anesthetic) and a wire cutting loop is inserted through the penis and urethra to remove tissue from the prostate.
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