Self-Removal of Urinary Catheter Following Pelvic Floor Surgeries- A Cost-Effective Way to Reduce Hospital Stay and Improve Patient Satisfaction

Objectives: To assess the effectiveness of patients removing urinary catheters by themselves after pelvic floor surgery done as day cases.Design: This was a non-randomized, single-center, prospective pilot study that included patients who have had pelvic floor surgeries (anterior and/or posterior colporrhaphies and colpocleisis) done as day cases between February 2021 and November 2023.Setting -UK DGH hospital urogynecology department.Population: All patients who had anterior, and posterior colporrhaphy, and colpocleisis and fulfilled our inclusion criteria for an elective day-case surgery.Methods: Non-randomized, single-center, prospective pilot study that assesses the effectiveness of day-case pelvic floor surgeries, with patients being discharged home with urinary catheters.They were instructed to remove these catheters on the first day following the operation.Subsequently, participants were monitored postoperatively and attended a clinic appointment six weeks later.Additionally, they were provided with a questionnaire to fill out, which was to be returned one week after the procedure.Results: The data obtained was over 33 months between February 2021 and November 2023.A total of 123 patients were included in the study.65 patients (52%) had anterior repairs ; 42 rectoceles (34%) ; 6 Enterocele(4 %) and 10 colpoclesis (8 %).The ages of the participants ranged from 42 years to 89 years.Overall, 77 % of feedback questionnaires were returned.Amongst the enrolled patients,98% would prefer not to wait for another admission date where a bed will be available, 97% of our patients removed the urinary catheter by themselves and found it to be easy, 88% of our patients would prefer not to come to the hospital or have a nurse sent to their homes to remove the catheter, and finally, 89 % of our patients would recommend this service to a friend.Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that the removal of a patient's catheter following pelvic floor surgery is cost-saving and highly acceptable to this cohort of patients