Abstract

Background: Urinary tract infections are one of the most common healthcare-associated infections, with catheter-associated urinary tract infections being a significant burden on healthcare systems globally. Aim: To assess nurses’ knowledge of evidence-based indwelling urinary catheter care and explore the barriers and facilitators of evidence-based indwelling catheter care. Design: A cross-sectional survey-based study of nurses in an acute private hospital in Western Australia was conducted from March 2021 to April 2021. Methods: Respondents were recruited using a convenience sampling method. The questionnaire included (1) demographics, knowledge of: (2) indications, (3) catheter care, (4) catheter-associated urinary tract infections prevention, and two open-ended questions on facilitators and barriers. Descriptive and inferential statistics were conducted using SPSS (version 27.0), and content analysis of the open-ended responses was performed. Results: Sixty-three nurses responded (response rate: 37.1%). Nurses’ mean knowledge scores for catheter indications (77.5%), care (88.8%), and evidence-based practice (85.8%) varied. No significant differences were found based on demographic characteristics. Facilitators to nurses utilising evidence-based guidelines included access to education and training, organisational resources, and time. Barriers included a lack of time, a lack of knowledge, poor accountability for practice, a need for organisational resources/policies, challenges with other health professionals, and patient-related factors. Other comments focused on the need for more training and improvements in practice. Conclusions: Nurses’ varied knowledge levels of evidence-based indwelling urinary catheter care highlight a need for education, supportive organisational policies and resources, and for nurses to take accountability for their practice.

Keywords

Catheter-associated urinary tract infections, Evidence-based guidelines, Knowledge, Nurses, Survey, Urinary catheters

Document Type

Journal Article

Date of Publication

1-1-2026

Volume

33

Issue

1

Publication Title

Collegian

Publisher

Elsevier

School

Centre for Research in Aged Care / School of Nursing and Midwifery

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Comments

Coventry, L., Gay, M., Rashidi, A., Ebeling, A., Fernando, R., Hallauer, C., Jayarathna, M., Shrestha, R., Smith, B., Watkins, P., & Saunders, R. (2026). A survey of nurses’ knowledge of evidence-based guidelines for indwelling urinary catheter care. Collegian, 33(1), 49-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colegn.2025.11.003

First Page

49

Last Page

56

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

10.1016/j.colegn.2025.11.003