Introduction: With the centralisation of urological services in the UK it is not always possible to have straight forward procedures such as exchange of suprapubic catheters (SPC) performed by a member of the urology team. Moreover, during the height of the COVID pandemic a significant number of urology junior doctors were redeployed to ITU, thus not available for changes of SPCs on the ward.
Methods: A questionnaire-based study of regional core surgical and foundation trainees was performed to ascertain their confidence level and knowledge surrounding catheterisation and exchange of SPCs. The results of this study formed the basis for the production of a YouTube video on how to change an SPC.
Results: 45.8% of all core surgical trainees surveyed had never changed a suprapubic catheter; 35.4% of all core surgical trainees felt this should only be performed by a member of the urology team. 86.6% foundation trainees had never changed a suprapubic catheter; 56.7% of all foundation trainees felt this should only be performed by a member of the urology team. After watching the video they were seen to have an increase in confidence with the post teaching feedback showing only 12.2% of those studied stating only the urology department should perform suprapubic catheter changes.
Conclusions: The training video was created and it has been found that the confidence of the junior doctors was increased. This video has now been incorporated in the regional induction curriculum for foundation trainees. It is a useful tool for distanced learning and adequate for giving colleagues the confidence to perform this simple procedure
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