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The patient was admitted for an interventional radiology procedure.Prior to starting the procedure, a foley catheter was to be placed.The staff were aware of her latex allergy, therefore the packaging was closely inspected to ensure the catheter was latex-free prior to placement.As the nurse found no notation regarding the presence of latex, the foley was placed.The nurse feeling unsure, called the company and confirmed the foley did contain "natural rubber latex".The foley was immediately removed and a latex-free foley was placed.No harm came to the patient.Later, the nurse asked three other people to inspect the packaging of an unopened catheter kit; none of the clinicians found the alert.On the front of the packaging there is an abundant amount of information including cdc guidelines for indwelling catheters, questions to be asked prior to placement, uti occurrence information, etc.The information regarding the kit containing latex and iodine appears on the short side of the kit; the same side as the flap used to open the kit.The flap obscures the information pertinent to potential allergies as a portion of the flap is a solid white material versus the clear outer wrap over the remaining kit.In additional the font is very small.Any allergy potential should be included on the front of the packaging in such a way to draw the users eye to the information.
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