Foley catheter output log and supply tracker (printable for families)

Jump straight to the log ↓

If your parent came home with a urinary catheter — a Foley or a suprapubic catheter — the family picked up two jobs that rarely get explained well. One is keeping the record the care team asked for. The other is keeping the supplies from running out. The record matters because it's how the care team sees what happened between visits. The supplies matter because an empty box of drainage bags on a Saturday night is a problem nobody needs.

This page is a printable catheter output log and supply tracker: an output record (date, time, amount, color, notes), a daily-totals row for teams that want totals, plain-word observation rows, and a supply inventory with reorder dates — plus a care sheet where you copy the instructions that actually govern your parent's catheter from their own home-health nurse or care team.

What this log is not: a catheter-care instruction sheet. It has no cleaning steps, no bag-change or catheter-change steps, no "normal" amounts, and no symptom list of its own. The routine your parent's nurse set up is the one that counts, and every clinical line on the sheet is a blank you fill from them.

This article is educational and is not medical advice. Follow the instructions of your parent's home-health nurse and care team for all catheter care, and call them with every question. If anything ever seems like an emergency, call 911.

Related resources:

• Bowel movement and toileting log for elderly care — the companion day-level record for the rest of toileting
• Ostomy supply inventory and reorder tracker — the same reorder discipline, for ostomy supplies
• Wound care, home health visit, and supply tracker — for tracking home-health nurse visits and dressing supplies
• Caregiver daily log template — where the day's overall summary lives, so catheter details don't get copied twice

On this page:

• Quick answer: what the log records
• Set up the care sheet from your parent's care team
• Catheter output log and supply tracker (copy and print)
• Recording color and appearance consistently
• Observations: record and report, never interpret
• Supplies: don't run out on a weekend
• Bring the log to every nurse visit

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Quick answer: what the log records

Each time you make a record, on the schedule your parent's care team asked for:

1. Date and time
2. Amount — only if the care team asked for amounts, measured the way the nurse showed you, in their units
3. Color — in the shared plain-word vocabulary on the sheet
4. Notes — anything you noticed, in plain words
5. Initials of whoever made the entry

Plus a supply count that shows what's on hand, when the next order goes in, and who places it.

Set up the care sheet from your parent's care team

Before the first entry, sit down with the home-health nurse or the discharge paperwork and copy these onto the care sheet — exactly as they give them to you, calling to ask about anything missing rather than guessing:

• The type of catheter, as the care team wrote it — and the date it was placed or last changed, as the nurse recorded it.
• Your home-health nurse's care routine — how and when they want the bag emptied, and anything else they set up for your parent. Write it in their words.
• When they want a record made, and whether they want amounts — and if so, how the nurse wants amounts measured and in what units.
• Whether they want a daily total — and if so, the period it should cover, as they specified it.
• The care team's list of what to report — copied verbatim, not reconstructed from memory.
• Who to call about the catheter — the nurse or agency during the day, and the after-hours number.
• The next catheter change, if the team has scheduled one — the date, and who will do it.

One more setup task: if no one has shown the family how to empty the bag and handle the equipment, ask the nurse to teach whoever will be doing it at home. That teaching is hands-on and specific to your parent's catheter; this log only records the results of it. MedlinePlus's page on urinary catheters is a plain-language backgrounder on the types of catheters; your parent's care team's instructions are the ones to follow.

Catheter output log and supply tracker (copy and print)

Fill in the care sheet once and keep it with the log. When the care team changes anything, start a new care sheet with the date and keep the old one, so each output sheet still shows which instructions it followed. Print as many output sheets as the week needs — each holds 14 entries. Keep the supply sheet wherever the supplies are stored, so the count and the shelf stay together.

CATHETER CARE SHEET — fill in once. When the care team changes
anything, start a new care sheet and keep this one with the log.

Person: ____________________  Care sheet dated: __________
In effect from (date and time): __________________

FROM YOUR PARENT'S CARE TEAM (copy exactly — call the nurse or
agency for anything missing; never guess)

  Catheter type (as the care team wrote it): _____________________
  Placed or last changed (per the nurse): ________________________
  Your home-health nurse's care routine (their words): ___________
  ________________________________________________________________
  When to make a record (their words): ___________________________
  Record amounts?  Y / N
  How to measure amounts, and the units (as the nurse showed you):
  ________________________________________________________________
  Daily total?  Y / N   If yes, the period it covers (as the team
  specified): ____________________________________________________
  The care team's list of what to report (copy it):
  ________________________________________________________________
  ________________________________________________________________
  Who to call about the catheter: _____________  Phone: _________
  After hours: ___________________________________________________
  Next catheter change, if the team scheduled one: _____________
  Who will do it: ________________________________________________
  Anything else the care team asked you to record (and who asked):
  ________________________________________________________________

URINARY CATHETER OUTPUT LOG

Person: ____________________  Week of: __________  Sheet ___ of ___
Care sheet followed (its date): __________
If it changed during this sheet: new care sheet from (date/time) ____

OUTPUT RECORD (one row each time a record is made, per the care
sheet; amounts only if the care team asked for them, in their units)

  Date    Time    Amount  Color         Notes              Initials
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________
  ______  _____   _____   ___________   _________________  ________

  Daily totals (only if the care team asked for them, for the
  period they specified — keep them on sheet 1 of the week):
  Day:   Mon    Tue    Wed    Thu    Fri    Sat    Sun
  Total: _____  _____  _____  _____  _____  _____  _____

COLOR VOCABULARY (so everyone describes it the same way)
  pale yellow · yellow · dark yellow · amber · pink-tinged · red ·
  cloudy · other (write "other" out in words)

OBSERVATIONS (record and report — describe what you saw and when;
check it against the list on the care sheet; the care team says
what it means)

  Date/time: ______  What you noticed (plain words): _____________
  ________________________________________________________________
  On the care team's list?  Y / N / not sure   Reported to: ______
  What they said: ________________________________________________

  Date/time: ______  What you noticed (plain words): _____________
  ________________________________________________________________
  On the care team's list?  Y / N / not sure   Reported to: ______
  What they said: ________________________________________________

QUESTIONS FOR THE NURSE (add as they come up; bring to the visit)
  - ______________________________________________________________
  - ______________________________________________________________

CATHETER SUPPLY TRACKER

Supplier: ____________________  Phone: _____________________
Reorder owner (who watches the count): ______________________
Coverage confirmed with (supplier / plan, and the date): ____

ITEMS (copy each one exactly from the order or the box)
  Item               Brand / size / item #   On hand   Reorder at
  _________________  _____________________   _______   __________
  _________________  _____________________   _______   __________
  _________________  _____________________   _______   __________
  _________________  _____________________   _______   __________
  _________________  _____________________   _______   __________

REORDER LOG
  Date ordered   Items             Order / confirmation #   Arrived
  ____________   _______________   ______________________   _______
  ____________   _______________   ______________________   _______
  ____________   _______________   ______________________   _______

  If what arrives doesn't match the order, note it here and ask
  the supplier or the nurse before using a substitute: ___________

Recording color and appearance consistently

Color is the part of the record most likely to drift when several family members share the job — one person's "dark" is another's "amber." The vocabulary line on the sheet exists so everyone picks from the same short list of plain words, and anything that doesn't fit gets written out in full under "other."

Describe it; don't grade it. Whether a change in color or clarity matters is exactly the kind of judgment that belongs to the care team reading your record — which is why every color entry sits next to its date, its time, and (if the team asked for it) its amount.

Observations: record and report, never interpret

The observation rows are for anything you notice between entries — about the urine, the tubing or the bag, the skin where the catheter enters, or how your parent seems overall. For each one, the job is the same two steps:

• Record: what you saw, in plain words, with the date and time. "Urine looked darker than at the morning emptying, noticed at the 4pm emptying" is a report a nurse can act on; "it looked a little off" is not.
• Report: check the list you copied onto the care sheet — the one from your parent's own care team — and call the number on the care sheet per that list. If you're not sure whether what you're seeing is on the list, call and ask. If anything ever seems like an emergency, call 911.

What the log never does is tell you what an observation means or what to do about it. Those instructions exist, but they're your parent's care team's to give — and the ones they gave you are the ones that count.

Supplies: don't run out on a weekend

The supply sheet is pure logistics, and it works the same way as the ostomy supply tracker:

• Copy each item exactly — brand, size, and item number from the order or the box, not "the usual bags." A near-match product can fit or connect differently, so a substitute is a question for the nurse or supplier first.
• Count on arrival, not on empty. Update "on hand" whenever a delivery comes in or a new box gets opened, so a low count shows up before it's urgent.
• Pick a reorder point that leaves room for shipping — the count at which your family places the next order — and name one reorder owner, so the count never falls between siblings.
• Confirm coverage before the first reorder. Medicare's prosthetic device coverage page lists urological supplies among the examples Part B covers when a doctor orders them; what applies to your parent, and how often supplies can be reordered, is a question for the supplier and their plan.

Bring the log to every nurse visit

Home-health visits go better with the sheet on the table. The output rows put what happened between visits in front of the nurse, the observation rows put dates on anything you noticed, and the questions strip empties itself into the visit instead of into the parking lot afterward. Between visits, the same rows make phone calls easier: you can read the most recent entries straight off the sheet.

If other family members or a paid aide share the job, keep one sheet in one place — next to the supplies works well — so there's one record instead of three separate memories.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should a catheter output log record?

Whatever your parent's care team asked for, on the schedule they asked for — the team decides both. A row holds the date and time, the amount if the team wants amounts (measured the way the nurse showed you, in their units), the color in plain words, anything you noticed, and the initials of whoever made the entry. Ask the nurse what to record, when, and how, and write the answer on the log's care sheet before the first entry.

How do we empty the bag, change it, or care for the catheter?

Those are hands-on skills your parent's home-health nurse or discharge nurse should teach — ask them to teach whoever will be doing them at home. This log deliberately leaves technique out: the routine the nurse set up for your parent is the one to follow, and there's a blank on the care sheet to write it down in their words. If you get home and realize no one has taught you, call the nurse or the agency number on the care sheet and ask.

What should we report to the care team?

Whatever is on the list your parent's care team gave you — copy it onto the log's care sheet word for word, along with who to call during the day and after hours. The log's job is to make each report specific: what you saw, when, and what was going on. If you're not sure whether something you noticed is on the list, call and ask. If anything ever seems like an emergency, call 911.

How do we keep from running out of catheter supplies?

Copy each item exactly as it appears on the supply order or the box — brand, size, and item number — count what's on hand whenever a delivery arrives, and pick a reorder point that leaves room for shipping delays. Name one person as the reorder owner. How often supplies can be reordered, and what insurance covers, depends on the supplier and your parent's plan, so confirm both before the first reorder.

Related Planning Steps

• Keep the rest of the toileting picture in the bowel movement and toileting log.
• Track home-health nurse visits and dressing supplies in the wound care and supply tracker.
• If your parent spends most of the day in bed, keep the turning schedule chart alongside this log.
• Roll the day's summary into the caregiver daily log instead of copying every entry twice.