Current Status of Clean Intermittent Catheterization Education in South Korea

Clean intermittent catheterization (CIC) is a safe and effective method for bladder emptying under various conditions. However, it is also a delicate daily procedure that requires high-quality education. This study investigated the current status of CIC education in South Korea.

An online anonymous survey inquiring CIC education circumstances at both outpatient clinic and ward was conducted via Google Forms in March 2023. The URL link was sent 3 times to the clinical practitioners conducting urodynamic tests in each hospital. These practitioners were nurses and members of the Korean Continence Society whose workplaces were either secondary or tertiary hospitals offering urodynamic tests.

The survey questionnaires were administered to 93 clinical practitioners from 60 different hospitals. The overall response rate was 33%. The urodynamic testing room was commonly used for CIC education, and private space solely designated for CIC education was available in less than 3%. The education materials provided by a catheter company were the most widely used (50%), followed by materials provided by each hospital or the urology department (30%). There were no public or formal CIC education materials provided by urological associations. The initially recommended catheter was a single-use catheter from various companies. However, the catheter selection was limited by national health insurance coverage in 14% of the cases. Furthermore, the mean consumed time for a single session of CIC education was 11-30 minutes in 60% of the cases, 31-60 minutes in 20%, and 5-10 minutes in 16.7%. Majority of the respondents complained about limitations in time and place to provide adequate education to improve patients' understanding on CIC.

The clinical practitioners mainly complained about the lack of time and place to provide adequate CIC education to patients. Furthermore, the limited amount of national insurance coverage for single-use catheters hindered the free selection of appropriate catheters.