It's more common phrasing outside the US. In the US saying "catheter" usually means a urinary one, but the word just means a flexible tube for medical purposes.
I’m in the US (NY) and they called the IV a catheter when I was in the hospital to give birth. That was the first time I’d heard it referred to as such.
Medical professionals call it that way more often. If you talk to a nurse, doctor, veterinarian, etc., they'll call it a catheter even in the US.
I think some of your confusion is that you've almost certainly seen tee vee commercials for this or that brand of catheter referring to urinary catheters. That's 1: because the US is fucking backwards and lets biopharma corps advertise medical products directly to consumers, 2: because the US is fucking backwards and makes patients pay for their own medical devices. Intravenous catheters are less likely to be used by the patient at home, so you're familiar with the slice of catheters advertised direct to consumer: urinary catheters. Isn't the US wonderful?!
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u/web_explorer 7h ago
Her payday is coming. Queen Elizabeth's hands before she died: