According to one method, the nurse scrubs her hands for three minutes and prepares the patient as for a vaginal examination, removes the douche pan and places a sterile towel over the vulva. She then scrubs and soaks her hands as described in Chapter XII, puts on sterile gloves, places a sterile towel over the patient’s abdomen and slips one under her hips. She should then separate the labia with the gloved fingers of the left hand, drawing the fingers upward a little to make the meatus more prominent. The inner surface of the labia is then bathed with pledgets soaked with the disinfecting solution, with downward strokes, each pledget being used but once. Five or six pledgets should be used, one after the other, to sponge the meatus, each pledget being placed squarely against the orifice, without touching the adjacent tissues, and given a slight, downward twisting motion and discarded. The bowl may then be placed in position to receive the urine, and the catheter picked up with the fingers, by its open end. The rounded end must be carefully inspected to insure against using one that is cracked or broken, after which it is slowly and gently introduced into the urethra for two or three inches. If the urine does not flow freely the catheter may be slightly withdrawn and light pressure made upon the bladder. Before removing the catheter the nurse must locate the fundus and assure herself that it is in a proper position. If it is pushed up or to one side she will know that the bladder is still distended, and that more urine must be withdrawn. After the bladder has been emptied the nurse should place one finger over the open end of the catheter and remove it slowly. Another method of catheterization differs from the one just described, in the preparation of the nurse’s hands. In this instance she simply washes her hands well with soap and hot water and wears neither gloves nor finger cots. She bathes the vulva with pledgets and an antiseptic solution, using forceps, and then separates the labia with two dry pledgets, one each under forefinger and thumb of the left hand, and proceeds as above. It will be observed that the nurse avoids touching the inner surface of the labia or the meatus with anything but sterile pledgets and the sterile catheter. The advantage of this procedure is that it is accomplished quickly and with the minimum of disturbance to the patient.