Knowledge and experience of medical students with male urethral catheterization

Abstract

Background: Urethral catheterization is a commonly performed procedure. Therefore medical students should receive adequate training in this technique to avoid devastating consequences of performing it poorly. This study was aimed at finding out the knowledge and experience of final year medical students with the technique of male urethral catheterization.

Methods: Well-structured questionnaire was administered to each of the final year medical students of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology (LAUTECH) one week to their final examinations.

Results: All the 215 students received the questionnaire one week before their final examinations with 128 (60%) completing it. The male to female ratio was 1:1 with a mean age of 28 years. One hundred and twenty-five (98.4%) of the students had been throught male urethral catheterization. Thirty-five (27.6%) of the students have never performed male urethral catheterization. One hundred and fifteen students (90.6%) agreed that urethral catheterization is a sterile procedure. Sixty-nine (54.3%) students said xylocaine jelly should be used as lubricant.. Ninety four (74%) students said that they will inflate the balloon of the catheter when the Y junction gets to the tip of the penis. Forty-nine (38.6%) students said they are very confident about male urethral catheterization, 61 (48.0%) said reasonably confident while 5 (3.9%) are not confident at all.

Conclusions: Urethral catheterization is a common procedure. Students should receive adequate instruction in this technique to avoid devastating consequences of performing it poorly.