The nurse evaluates the urinalysis (UA) of a female patient with an indwelling urinary catheter. The UA report shows gross contamination of the urine

Question

Rank the nursing inter-ventions in order, beginning with the first intervention the nurse should implement. a. Provide perineal hygiene.
b. Provide urinary catheter care.
c. Check the duration of catheterization.
d. Obtain a urine specimen from a sterile port.

Answer 1

c, b, a, d

a. Thirdly, the nurse progresses to perineal care. This follows catheter care because of the principle of asepsis regarding working from the least contaminated to the most contami-nated area.
b. The second intervention is providing catheter care. Regardless of the cause of the specimen contamination, catheter care is a suitable nursing intervention because it decreases the colony count on the catheter.
c. Gross contamination of a urine specimen is a costly error because the contaminated urine is unsuitable for evaluation. The nurse responds to the report of contamination by deter-mining how long the catheter has been in place because an increased duration increases the risk of a urinary tract infection from fecal contamination and can affect subsequent nursing interventions.
d. Finally, the nurse obtains another urine specimen from a sterile port. Although the catheter has been washed, the nurse rubs the port with alcohol and withdraws urine with a sterile needle and syringe to prevent the introduction of contaminants into the specimen.