Pull the Foley: Improved Quality for Middle-Aged and Geriatric Trauma Patients Without Indwelling Catheters

Urinary tract infection (UTI) complications are often attributed to the inappropriate use of urinary catheters.

We sought to examine the effectiveness of a hospital-wide policy aimed at reducing the use of indwelling Foley catheters.

We completed a retrospective review of prospectively collected data on 577 hip and femur fracture patients aged 55 years and older who were operatively treated at a Level 1 trauma center between October 2014 and March 2019. New standard-of-care guidelines restricting the use of indwelling Foley catheters were implemented starting January 2018, and we compared perioperative outcomes between cohorts.

Over a 50% absolute reduction in indwelling Foley catheter use and a near 30% relative reduction in hospital-acquired UTI were achieved. Postpolicy cohort patients without indwelling Foley catheters experienced lower odds of hospital-acquired UTI, higher odds of home discharge, as well as decreased time to surgery, shorter length of stay, and lower total inpatient cost compared with those with indwelling Foley catheters.

The policy of restricting indwelling Foley catheter placement was safe and effective. A decrease in indwelling Foley catheter use led to a decrease in the rate of hospital-acquired UTI and positively affected other perioperative outcomes.