Our Mission
CatheterReview.com’s mission is to provide the most objective and comprehensive information about urinary catheters for catheter users. Our team consists of product developers, doctors, and catheter users. Our core belief is that being better educated and having access to quality information can only help catheter users navigate the opaque world of urinary catheters.
We started this website because we realized that there aren’t many places that catheter users can go to find out more about the products that they rely on day in and day out. Doctors are typically too busy or believe that all catheters are essentially the same, while distributors and manufacturers have an economic incentive in any conversation about catheters.
We also get it – no one really ever wants to use a catheter. You use them because you have to. There can be some shame associated with catheterization, you want to hide it from people… but that shouldn’t prevent you from getting good information and even better catheters. We’re here to help to demystify the process as best we can.
That being said, the true experts in catheters are the users themselves. We’ve set up the website so that you can submit your own opinions about different catheters and start a dialogue with other users on the site. Please don’t be shy – feel free to leave comments and engage in the community! As a matter of policy, we do not filter comments or prevent people from posting reviews.
The Review Process
All reviews start off being written by our resident product development expert, who has a background in consumer medical device design at Johnson & Johnson. The information for the reviews is sourced from publicly available documents that are linked in every review, as well as from a series of tests that we conduct ourselves.
After the first draft is written and all of the pictures and videos are made, they head to our panel of clinical experts and catheter users. All of our reviews are checked for objectivity by the panel, and it’s only after this review process that they’re allowed to be published onto the site.
Every review dives into detail about 6 main aspects of the catheter: material, flexibility, packaging, lubrication, insertion, and adverse events.
The material section is populated with information that’s pulled from the catheter’s FDA filing. In these documents, catheter manufacturers have to disclose what a catheter is actually made out of, because different materials can have different health impacts. Where it’s relevant, we’ve pulled in or linked additional resources that help to explain more about the catheter’s material.
The flexibility section summarizes a test that we conduct with every catheter: when we hold the catheter from the funnel, how far does the catheter shaft droop down? We meticulously take pictures of each catheter against a grid so that you can see precisely how flexible the catheter is.
The packaging section describes the catheter’s packaging in objective terms, and may include short videos that show how the catheter can be removed from its packaging.
The lubrication section describes how the catheter can be lubricated before being inserted. For many catheters that include a hydrophilic coating, we take special care to summarize any published information about the specific materials being used to lubricate the catheter. For non-coated catheters, there will be a brief summary on ways to lubricate the catheter (though this shouldn’t be taken as medical advice).
The insertion section evaluates any tools that the catheter comes with to make insertion easier. This can cover anything from eyelet design to the design of included insertion sleeves.
Finally, the adverse events section includes a summary of all publicly filed complaints about the specific kind of catheter that we’re reviewing. The FDA keeps track of these complaints and publishes them in a database, which we will link to in this section.
To the extent that we ever talk about price in these reviews, it’s important to note that your mileage will vary. Our discussions on price are based on the reimbursement code that the products that we review fall under. Different insurers and distributors may charge you differently based on your catheter needs and insurance coverage.
CatheterReview.com reviews publicly available information on catheters and manufacturers of catheters to provide the content included on this website. We strive to provide unbiased assessments of catheters, catheter manufacturers, and related topics. The opinions expressed herein are our own. Please contact us if you think any information provided is inaccurate.