Identifying safe practices for use of the urinary leg bag drainage system in the postacute and long-term care...

In the postacute and long-term care setting, the practice of changing the indwelling urinary catheter large sterile drainage bag to a small-size leg drainage bag is intended to maintain a person's mobility, dignity, and comfort. There is scant evidence that assesses the impact of intermittent use of a leg bag on frequency of urinary tract infection since this breaks the closed urinary drainage system.

We reviewed research published between 1993 and 2014 for the answers to 20 practice questions developed by experts and long-term care clinicians on the risks and benefits, cleaning, connection, and storage of reusable leg bags.

Seventeen of the 26 publications and studies provided varying advice on the risk of breaking the closed system and on practices for changing, disinfecting, and storing leg bags between uses. Thirteen of 20 practice questions were answered by ≥1 publications, few of which were evidence based.

We identified the existence of low-level evidence that leg bags pose no evident, disproportionate risk of infection compared with maintaining a closed system. The lack of uniformity in evidence in the literature suggests aseptic technique should guide practice. Available evidence suggests that aseptic technique should guide practice.