If a urinary catheter has been in place for more than two weeks and is still needed, what is the recommended action?

• A. Remove Immediately
• B. Do Nothing
• C. Replace Immediately
• D. Switch To External Catheter Only

Answer: (C)

The main idea here is that long-term indwelling urinary catheters accumulate biofilm, crystals, and debris, which increases the risk of blockage and infection as time passes. If a catheter has been in place for more than two weeks and the patient still needs drainage, replacing the catheter now helps restore a clean lumen and reduce these risks. Keeping the same catheter beyond this point makes blockage and catheter-associated infection more likely, so re-establishing a new catheter is the safer choice.

Removing it entirely would deprive the patient of necessary urine drainage and could cause urinary retention. Switching to an external catheter isn’t appropriate when the patient requires an indwelling catheter for bladder drainage.