Urinary Retention

Today I had a patient who was Post-Op day #1 from a Total Right Hip Arthroplasty. He was recovering well with clear lung sounds, adequate pain management, and good voluntary passive range of motion. The Day nurse D/C'd the foley catheter in the morning as well as the hemovac drain. He was on PO medications for pain and nausea medications as well.

Sadly, my patient still hadn't voided all day which concerned me because my patient could have urinary retention. My nurse asked me to perform a bladder scan on the patient to see if the patient had any urine in the bladder. The scan came out to be over 400mL of urine! eeeeek! So we needed to straight cath him right away (which means temporarily drain the bladder). The day nurse completed the task in the afternoon while I was at lunch. Around 1800 I bladder scanned him again with over 400mL of urine, again! So my nurse and I concluded that he needed his foley catheter replaced again.

So, me being all nerdy, I got excited because my nurse told me that I get to insert a foley catheter. Ohh my goodness!! All the instructors at school say, you will really feel like a nurse when you insert a foley catheter. So you know how I was feeling! Instead of explaining the procedure and grossing you out.....my nurse basically helped me step by step just to remind me of what to do. I completed the skill successfully and my patient's bladder was drained and continued to drain the bladder. YAY for new skills! :)

My patient was relieved because having a distended bladder can be painful and uncomfortable. I have the same patient tomorrow, so I hope that he will be able to void on his own :) Until then.....