Kathryn Getliffe. Managing recurrent urinary catheter blockage: problems, promises, and practicalities. 2003;30:146-151.
Kathryn Getliffe is a professor of nursing at the School of Nursing & Midwifery, University of Southampton, on the south coast of England, where she leads a research group on living with chronic health needs.
Kathryn started her academic and clinical career with a degree in human biology combined with nurse training, which she completed in 1971. After a short period of time as a staff nurse in London she went off to Nigeria for a year teaching physiology to medical students and assisting in a local health clinic.
By the time she returned to England, the traveling bug had bitten, and after a brief time back home, she and her husband moved to Australia for the next 9 years. While in Australia, Kathryn alternated her activities between nursing, raising two children, and undertaking an MSc in biochemistry by research and looking at aspects of cystic fibrosis.
Then it was back to England, and this was where Kathryn's long-term interest in promoting continence really began to develop. While working as a community nurse, she encountered many patients with long-term indwelling catheters, many of whom had repeated problems caused by catheter blocking. The quality of life for these patients and their caregivers was severely compromised, and Kathy decided there had to be a better way to manage their problems. To be able to devote sufficient time to through examination of the issues, she undertook a doctoral research program. This subject area allowed her to combine nursing knowledge with her strong science background and to use biochemical and microbiological techniques to investigate the factors contributing to the formation of encrustations on catheter surfaces, which lead to blockage.
That was nearly 15 years ago. Kathy now continues to lead a research program at the University of Southampton that focuses on problems for people living with incontinence.
Kathy is delighted to receive this award from WOCN and is sorry that she was unable to attend the WOCN Conference in Florida to receive this valued award.
She is always pleased to hear from colleagues from throughout the world and can be contacted at [email protected].