Purpose

Recent national surgical quality guidelines (Surgical Care Improvement Project, National Hospital Inpatient Quality Measures)state that removal of urinary catheters should occur by post-operative day two for all surgical patients. These guidelines exclude neither patients who have undergone rectal surgery nor those with epidural analgesic catheters. The common practice among most colorectal surgeons is to leave urinary catheters in for three to five days for patients who have undergone rectal operations, due to concern for urinary retention. This study aims to explore the outcomes of following the national surgical guidelines for early urinary catheter removal, especially with regards to urinary retention and urinary tract infection.