A urinary catheter at home turns "did they drink enough today?" into a number you can actually answer. This is the routine home health nurses expect family caregivers to run, and the log they will ask to see.
| Task | Why | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wash hands before and after every contact with the tubing, bag or entry point | The single most effective infection-control step in home catheter care. |
| 2 | Check the bag position — below bladder level, off the floor | Below the bladder so urine drains the right way; off the floor so it stays clean. |
| 3 | Check tubing is not kinked or pinned under the person or a blanket | A kinked tube means no output — and a falsely reassuring chart. |
| 4 | Look at the urine — color, clarity, smell | Cloudy, bloody or strong-smelling urine is your earliest warning. |
| 5 | Clean the entry point per the nurse's instructions | The nurse shows you the exact routine at setup — write it in the binder, not on a loose flyer. |
| 6 | Log each emptying — time, amount, quick color note | This is the output log the care team reads. See below. |
| Time | Amount | Color / note | Initials |
|---|---|---|---|
| 07:40 | 280 ml | Clear yellow | DW |
| 12:15 | 190 ml | Clear | DW |
| 18:30 | 310 ml | Slightly dark — offered extra fluids | RS |
Milliliters or ounces — whatever the team uses — with initials per shift. When several people share the care, the initials column prevents both double-reporting and gaps. Fluid balance works on totals, so empty the bag before it is full and record at each emptying rather than estimating from one full bag at midnight.
Read from the log when you call — times, amounts, when the color changed. It turns a vague worry into a report that can be triaged.