Arizona Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) Practice Test

What should the care plan for a resident with an indwelling urinary catheter include?

1. Keeping the area where the catheter enters the body clean

2. Changing the catheter every day

3. Encouraging hydration

4. Regularly checking for blockages

The correct answer is: Keeping the area where the catheter enters the body clean

The care plan for a resident with an indwelling urinary catheter should indeed include keeping the area where the catheter enters the body clean. This practice is crucial for preventing infections, such as catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs). Maintaining cleanliness reduces the risk of bacteria entering the urinary tract and helps ensure the catheter functions properly. It typically involves routine cleaning according to facility protocols and emphasizing the importance of hygiene to both staff and residents. The other choices, while they may seem sensible in their own right, are not universally applicable. For example, changing the catheter every day is unnecessary and could cause trauma to the urethra; catheters are usually changed every 2 to 4 weeks or as needed. Encouraging hydration is generally a good practice for overall health but is not specific to catheter care itself, and excessively high fluid intake without medical guidance might lead to complications. Regularly checking for blockages is important, but it is usually part of routine catheter management rather than a specific focus area in the care plan. Thus, the emphasis on cleanliness stands out as a fundamental aspect of proper care for residents with an indwelling urinary catheter.