The nurse notes that 8 hours after removing the patient's indwelling urinary catheter, the patient has not voided. Which intervention should the nurse try first to facilitate patient voiding?

Question

a. Run a trickle of water in the bathroom.
b. Apply a rolling motion over the bladder.
c. Ask about voiding difficulties in the past.
d. Instruct the patient to run warm water on the perineum.

Answer 1

C
The nurse assesses the patient for a history of voiding difficulties, especially after removal of an indwelling catheter, and asks the patient about successful strategies that facilitated voiding. Pa-tient difficulties often arise from the physical distortion of the urinary meatus and sphincters by the urinary catheter; after the urethra and sphincters return to normal and regional edema im-proves several hours later, the patient voids. Running water in the bathroom, running warm water over the perineum, and applying gentle pressure to the bladder are suitable techniques to stimu-late urination after assessing the patient.