Investigation of the frequency of the contamination of lubricant gels used for urinary catheterization in Tohid and Besat hospital in Sanandaj in 2013

80% of hospital acquired urinary tract infections are due to urinary tract catheterization. One of the important risk factors for urinary tract infection is lack of use of sterilized materials and methods during urinary catheterization. The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of contamination of the lubricant gels used for urinary tract catheterization. This cross-sectional study was conducted from June to August 2013. In this study, 100 samples of non-sterile lubricant gels were collected from various wards of Besat and Tohid hospitals in Sanandaj, and were transported to the laboratory within a thioglycolate environment. In this study, contamination or non-contamination of the gel was considered as the outcome variable. Results of this study were entered into STATA11 software. Descriptive objectives were measured using descriptive statistics and analytical objectives were calculated by analytical statistics such as confidence intervals, chi-square, and logistic regression. We obtained 100 samples from Tohid and Besat hospitals (50 samples from each hospital) in Sanandaj. Among the samples 25 % had positive microbial cultures. 60 % of the isolated pathogens were Pseudomonas, Enterococcus, and Staphylococcus epidermidis. The results of this study showed that 25 % of reusable non-sterile lubricant gels which were used for urinary catheterization were positive for microbial contamination. Therefore we recommend that disposable sterile lidocaine gels be used for urinary catheterization.