Should lidocaine gel or lubricating gel be used for catheter insertion?
A discussion on whether anaesthetic gel is required during catheterisation A. Urethral catheterisation is a common nursing procedure with up to 13% of hospitalised and 4% of community adult patients having indwelling urethral catheters (Rew and Woodward, 2001). Both men and women find the procedure painful, with men finding it significantly more so than women. Urethral lubrication Historically, urethral lubrication with an anaesthetic gel has been routinely used for men undergoing catheterisation, but it was not until a publication by de Courcy-Ireland (1993) that an anaesthetic gel for women undergoing catheterisation received serious consideration. It was believed until then that as the female urethra was so much shorter than in the male, anaesthesia or lubrication was unnecessary. However, the female urethra has a flattened convoluted tube shape with epithelial folds that lie flat, making it prone to trauma during catheterisation. There is now consensus among most clinicians that a
