The objective of this scoping review will be to identify and describe the characteristics and outcome measures of indwelling urinary catheter care bundles in adult populations.
The use of indwelling urinary catheters carries an inherent risk of infection, leading to the development of catheter-associated urinary tract infections, particularly antimicrobial-resistant infections, which are the most common. These infections can increase the risk of other complications, such as increased morbidity, mortality, hospitalization, length of stay, and hospital costs. The prevention of catheter-associated urinary tract infections has been explored through the use of care bundles; however, the best use case for these bundles remains unknown.
This review will include primary qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods research, systematic reviews, and gray literature examining care bundles for indwelling urethral or suprapubic urinary catheters in adult populations. All care settings will be included where care bundles are delivered by health professionals. A search limit of 2015 onward will be set.
This review will follow the JBI methodology for scoping reviews and will be reported against the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRIMSA-ScR). Databases to be searched will include MEDLINE, Embase, and Emcare (via Ovid), CINAHL (via EBSCOhost), and Scopus. Figures and tables, along with accompanying narrative synthesis, will be used to present the results in line with the review questions. Studies will be mapped in terms of common characteristics of care bundles and outcome measures used to evaluate their effects.
OSF: osf.io/dqnsh.
JBI evidence synthesis. 2026 Feb 18 [Epub ahead of print]
Joan Ostaszkiewicz, Jarrod Clarke, Elizabeth Watt, Caitlin Tay, Micah Dj Peters
National Ageing Research Institute Limited, Melbourne, Vic, Australia., University of South Australia, UniSA Clinical and Health Sciences, Rosemary Bryant AO Research Centre, Adelaide, SA, Australia.