Case Report: High-Pressure Chronic Retention (HPCR) of an Elderly Female and Ongoing Care following Permanent Urinary Catheter Placement

Chronic Urinary Retention is defined as a condition of the urinary bladder in which the residual urine after a normal void exceeds 300ml. High-Pressure Chronic Retention (HPCR) differs from chronic urinary retention with four characteristics as follows, late-onset anuresis, a tense painless palpable bladder, hypertension, and bilateral hydronephrosis with hydroureter which leads to uraemia and death (Goonawardena & Sivapriyan, 2004). A 79-year-old socially active lady has been diagnosed with type II diabetes mellitus, presented with frequency, urinary incontinence, dribbling, and urgency for three years reluctant to seek proper medical assistance by rationalizing her thoughts that this condition was normal with her advanced age. As nurses, it is important to initiate care systematically: addressing the informationseeking behaviour of clients with permanent urinary catheters, encourage them to express their feeling and concerns on this condition, provision of necessary knowledge on the management, care, and long-term follow up on permanent catheterization of patients with HPCR and family. This would relieve patients’ anxiety, and dissatisfaction, and leads to enhance patients’ quality of life during their advanced age. Further, evidence and updated clinical nursing guidelines are needed on long-term care and follow-up for this unique clinical entity of elderly women. Keywords: Elderly female, High-Pressure Chronic Retention, permanent urinary catheter