If you ask anyone who has been using an intermittent catheter – or IC – for a while, they will probably tell you they learned a few things the hard way. Either because they didn’t know enough about self catheterization, they weren't familiar with their own anatomy, or because of the myths and misconceptions.

This is a new video series on IC for people with female genitalia, including demos performed by people with spinal cord injuries: doing an IC in a bed, doing an IC in a public washroom, and showing landmarking and gauze techniques. Experts share myths and facts about doing ICs, including a nurse who teaches this with inpatients in the largest SCI rehab centre in Ontario.

This series is for anyone with female genitalia.

Additional resources:

UHN Toronto Rehab has developed a collection of educational handouts about spinal cord injury. The education handouts aim to help you during your recovery as you learn to live with your injury. They have helpful information on topics such as self-care, mobility, health, financial services and more. To access the handout Catheterization for Women, visit Spinal Cord Essentials here.

Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence (SCIRE) Community provides free information about spinal cord injury research that is written in everyday language. To access the SCIRE Community handout on urinary catheters, visit SCIRE Community here.

Actual insertion of a catheter is shown in the video provided by Coloplast, “How to use a catheter for women in a wheelchair – Coloplast SpeediCath® self cathetarization.” The Coloplast animated video will help you get a clearer idea of the general area of insertion and also an internal view, so you can get a sense of where the catheter’s going once inserted. The Coloplast animated video is available here. Used with permission.