Time of day urinary catheters are removed: a study of current practices.

Nursing abounds with rituals and routines that guide every day clinical practice, including nursing practices concerned with the timing of urinary catheter removal in adult acute care patients. Many of the underlying assumptions regarding the time of day that urinary catheters are removed are questionable and indicate a need for further study. An understanding of current practices has the potential to contribute to establishing scientific principles on which rational nursing care can be based.