Project ID D2021-33
Female urethral catheterization is an often difficult procedure and requires good use of both hands, good knowledge of anatomy, and good handling and manipulation of the catheter. Improper catheterization may result in the waste of catheters, catheter contamination, and possible patient infection. The difficulty of the procedure may be more pronounced in patients with a larger body mass index (BMI) and in patients with postural problems. While self-catheterization can be used to mitigate the challenges in patients with these conditions, it is not always easy to teach and may not be easy to adopt by many patients. Self-catheterization may also be hampered by the difficulty to localize the urethra, an inability to visualize the anatomy or poor accessibility to the urethra. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an improved structure for a female urethral catheter guide that allows health care workers to place female catheters more easily and with less manipulation, helps female patients to more easily place their catheters during self-catheterization, helps reduce the chances of trauma to the urethral opening, and maintains a clean and sterile environment during female catheter insertion, thus reducing the risk of infection.
Invention Description:
Researchers at the University of Toledo have developed a novel female urethral catheter guide with an improved structure that simplifies the ability of a user to insert a catheter into the urethra and is designed to be simple, easy to use, and affordable. The novel catheter guide enhances the ability of the health care workers to place the catheter in female patients with a no-touch technique that will help to reduce risks of contamination and infection. Women who may have been concerned with the difficulty of self-catheterization will be able to self-insert a catheter easily and with less manipulation than is required with known self-catheterization devices and techniques. Once the catheter is inserted in the patient, the female urethral catheter guide will remain in place relative to the catheter and to the patient while the patient urinates. After urination, the catheter may be removed by simultaneously moving the female urethral catheter guide, and the catheter mounted thereon, away from the patient, thus making it unnecessary to remove the catheter from the catheter tunnel of the female urethral catheter guide.
Applications:
Urinary Catheters
Advantages:
IP Status: Patent Pending.