Bedside procedures

How to insert a urinary catheter (female)

Other platforms explain it with text and video. In VMS you practice it on the patient.

Nursing (NCLEX)
Practice it in VR with Blocky

Catheters cause infections. Insert only when needed and keep everything sterile.

Step by step

  1. Check the need

    Confirm the order and that a catheter is really needed. [1]

  2. Prepare

    Identify, explain, privacy, good light, patient on the back with knees bent apart. [1]

  3. Sterile field

    Clean hands, open the kit, sterile gloves, drape. [1]

  4. Clean

    Non-dominant hand separates the labia (this hand is now not sterile); clean front to back. [1]

  5. Insert

    Lubricated catheter into the urethra until urine flows, then 1 to 2 inches more. [1]

  6. Balloon

    Inflate with the stated volume; stop if painful. [1]

  7. Secure

    Tape to the thigh, bag below the bladder, off the floor, tubing without kinks. [1]

Common errors

Practice it in VMS

In VMS you do this on the patient, not on paper: every step goes on the checklist with a score, and in Teach mode Blocky tells you what comes next.

VMS cases that train this skill

Sources

  1. Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) (CC BY 4.0)
  2. OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills (CC BY 4.0)

Steps adapted from Open RN, Nursing Skills 2e (Chippewa Valley Technical College) and OpenStax, Clinical Nursing Skills, licensed under CC BY 4.0. VMS is not affiliated with these organizations. Updated: 2026-10-11.