Understanding clinician and industry perspectives
We recognise that it is extremely important to understand the perspectives of everyone with an interest in intermittent catheterisation. This includes catheter users, of course, but also catheter manufacturers and suppliers and the health care professionals involved in teaching intermittent catheterisation, catheter selection and prescription. The aim of the implementation module is to explore the clinical, social, regulatory, marketplace and financial contexts which affect the practice of intermittent catheterisation, primarily in the UK but also internationally.
Planning for possible change: The safety and acceptability of re-using catheters is being tested in this Trial. If it is demonstrated that using a mixture of single-use and multi-use catheters does not result in any more infections than using single-use catheters alone and that mixed-use is acceptable to intermittent catheterisation users, a change in practice to mixed use may be warranted. This will have implications for the agencies that recommend and regulate practice, clinicians who teach intermittent catheterisation and prescribe catheters, and those who manufacture and market products.
Clinician perspectives: In order to understand current views and practices and to identify factors that may help or hinder change should multi-use prove a viable option, we interviewed twenty health care professionals (nurse specialists in continence promotion, urology, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury and GPs) and NHS managers involved in the teaching of IC and the prescription and supply of catheters. Data from the interviews was used to develop an online survey sent to 600+ nurses (200+ responses) Read more here.
Industry perspectives: Interviews have been conducted with representatives of fifteen catheter companies. Industry has invested heavily in the development and promotion of single-use catheters and their views on catheter re-use are important. An inventory has been created of all the available intermittent catheterisation products, including costs and technical specifications. Using information about the range of products available and about NHS product selection and purchasing policies, we will explore potential areas for product innovation for catheter re-use, such as low-friction coatings and cleaning and storage products.
Intermittent catheterisation worldwide: In order to fully understand how intermittent catheterisation has developed and what influences health systems or individuals to use single-use or multi-use approaches, a wide-ranging review is being conducted of research and other published information from the UK and around the world. In addition, local policies and national and international guidelines regarding intermittent catheterisation are being reviewed, along with the policies of bodies that regulate clinical practices within the NHS, to see how they may affect uptake of multi-use catheters.
Using the information from these activities, and using established approaches for introducing new ideas and managing change, an implementation plan will be developed for the possible introduction of catheter re-use during the Trial, and in the NHS should mixed-use be shown to be safe and acceptable to catheter users.
This website refers to independent research funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Programme Grants for Applied Research (PGfAR) Programme (Grant Reference Number RP-PG-0610-10078). The views expressed are those of the research team and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health.