A reminder system to remove foley catheters? Could come in handy. With so much going on in the hospital, many physicians forget how long these catheters have been in - unnecessarily raising the risk of infection and discomfort:

About 25 percent of hospital patients at any given time have urinary catheters - and a substantial proportion of patients have them much longer than they really need them, experts say. This greatly raises their risk of getting a painful urinary tract infection or even a blood infection.

But a new University of Michigan Health System study, funded by a patient safety grant from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation, shows that simply having nurses flag patients' records with a written reminder can jog the memory of busy doctors, prompt them to consider removing the catheter, and lead to a much shorter time with a catheter for many patients.

("Millions of hospital patients could be spared the humiliation and infection risk that come with a urine-collecting catheter", News-Medical.Net, Jul.29)