PREVALENCE AND PREDICTORS OF POSTOPERATIVE URINARY RETENTION (POUR): A RETROSPECTIVE CHART REVIEW

Abstract

Background: Postoperative Urinary Retention (POUR) is a frequent and serious complication contributing to increased healthcare cost, delayed discharge, and morbidity of patients. However, the prevalence and predictors of POUR are not well understood. The existing literature adopts unclear definitions of POUR, resulting in contradicting findings that hinders the adoption of a clear and standardized protocols for prevention and early identification. Aims: This study aims to identify the prevalence of POUR in postoperative adult patients. Additionally, this study aim to identify the risk factors associated with the development of POUR in a public tertiary hospital in Singapore. Methods: A retrospective chart review will be conducted in an acute tertiary hospital. A minimum of 323 adult postoperative patients, who have had surgeries from 1 January to 31 July 2018, will be recruited through convenience sampling. A data collection form will be used to collect and extract the patients’ existing medical records from the hospital’s database. SPSS 25.0 will be used for data analysis including descriptive statistics and regression analysis. Results: ‘Type of surgical procedures’, use of ‘PCA’ and ‘duration of immediate postoperative catheterisation’ were found to be significantly associated with the development of POUR. Specifically, ‘duration of immediate postoperative catheterisation’ was found to be a significant independent predictor of POUR through the simple logistic regression. Implications: Subsequent development of POUR risk assessment tool and interventions for systematic prevention and management of POUR could be done in the study site. Current practice adopted in the care of postoperative patients could also be reviewed and revised with development of assessment tool and systematic protocol. Conclusion: Highlighting the current prevalence of POUR in our surgical population would have implications for future practice, and predictors could be used to identify at-risk patients. This study also laid foundation for future research on the topic of POUR.