The catheter team: an essential service for rehabilitating neurogenic bladders

A carefully controlled programme of intermittent catheterization provides substantially better care of the bladder than indwelling catheters during the initial period after acute spinal cord injury. It is very difficult to maintain a programme of intermittent catheterization around the clock without a small team of nursing personnel highly skilled in the technique of aseptic catheterization. the practical details of setting up a catheter team are described. Some of the results that have been associated with the establishment of such a team at the Rehabilitation Branch of the Royal Perth Hospital are presented.