Nurses applications and comments on the permanent urinery catheterization and exercises

Aim: This study aimed to determine nurses' practices and opinions on bladder control exercises before terminating permanent urinary catheterization. Method: This cross-sectional descriptive study's population included 397 nurses working in the internal medicine, surgical and intensive care units in two institutions in a city located in the Aegean region of Turkey. Of them, 280 who worked in these units between August 01, 2016 and November 20, 2016 and accepted to participate in the study comprised the study sample. To analyze the data, mean values, numbers, percentages and the Chi square test were used. Results: The nurses' mean age was 29.98±7.44, and their mean length of service was 8.31±6.58. Of them, 65.7% had patients perform bladder control exercises, and 40.2% always had patients perform the bladder control exercises. Of them, 2.5% started bladder control exercises 10 hours before the removal of the urinary catheter, 26.8% had the catheter clamped for 2 hours, 50.7% left the catheter for free drainage for 15 minutes and 30.0% had clamping/free drainage 3 times. There was a statistically significant relationship between the nurses' age and length of service and their performing bladder control exercises (p<0.05). Given their work place, there was a statistically significant difference between the nurses (p<0.05) in terms of the initiation of the bladder control exercises and duration of catheter clamping. Conclusion: More than half of the nurses had patients perform bladder control exercises, and the variables such as their work place, and length of service significantly affected their bladder control exercise practices.