During continuous bladder irrigation after TURP, what practice helps prevent infection?

• A. Tell the client to urinate around the catheter
• B. Restrict fluids
• C. Prepare to remove the catheter
• D. Use aseptic technique when irrigating the catheter

Answer: (D)

The main idea here is preventing introduction of bacteria during any handling of the catheter and its irrigation. After TURP, keeping the bladder irrigation process within a sterile, closed system is essential to stop infection from entering the urinary tract. Using aseptic technique means hand hygiene, sterile gloves, sterile equipment and irrigation solutions, and maintaining a sterile, closed setup so nothing nonsterile touches the catheter or drainage system. This minimizes the chance of contaminating urine and causing a catheter-associated infection.

Telling the patient to urinate around the catheter would bypass the catheter and expose the urinary tract to bacteria. Restricting fluids isn’t protective against infection and can actually be harmful by concentrating urine and irritating mucosa. Preparing to remove the catheter isn’t a direct infection-prevention step during irrigation; it affects infection risk later but doesn’t address the immediate risk during irrigation. The key practice to prevent infection during continuous bladder irrigation is using aseptic technique.