The lived experiences of patients with long- term urinary catheter in Cameroon

Abstract: The aim of part one of the study was to describe the experiences of patients living with the urinary catheter from a literature study of existing research studies. Databases such as CINAHL, Medline, and PsyINFO were used in searching for the documents of which ten articles were found to be relevant in relation to the aim of the study. It was found that most of the studies were carried out in New York. Hence there was a need for other researches to be done in other communities. The aim of the empirical study was to describe the lived experiences of patients with long term indwelling urinary catheter in Cameroon. A purposive sample of six subjects with ages ranging from 34-78 yrs from Mbingo baptist hospital living with the indwelling urinary catheter were included in the study with the duration of living with the urinary catheter ranging from 3months –2,1/2 yrs. The data collection method was a face-to-face interview between the author and the participants that lasted from 30-1hr, which were audiotape and transcribed from Pidgin to English by means of the content analytic method. Themes such as, communication gap, financial difficulties, loss of ones dignity, pain, the device being important and unimportant, the device a ‘killer’, hindrance to daily activities, and consciousness of the proper functioning of the urinary catheter. From the interview with the participants with the long term indwelling urinary catheter, participants faced a lot of difficulties and even during their meetings with the healthcare professional, which showed lack of understanding between the participants and the healthcare professionals. Interview with the participants showed that for proper functioning of the catheter to be achieved care was emphasized on the drainage tube and clamp. Health care professional should be conscious of the fact that communication should be a two way process and that it should involve all the parties who are involve. There is also the need for the health care professionals to educate the patients according to their individual needs.