Which does the nurse use to cleanse the perineum of a female client for urinary catheter insertion?

Question

1. Rinse the perineum with warm antiseptic solution.
2. Swab perineum from the anus to the urinary meatus.
3. Use nondominant hand to keep labia spread apart continuously.
4. Use nondominant hand to cleanse from urinary meatus to rectum.

Answer 1

3
3. The nurse uses the nondominant hand to spread apart the labia and to maintain the position until the catheter is in place; once the nurse contaminates the nondominant hand by touching the perineum, the nurse cannot use that hand to manipulate sterile equipment.
1. Rinsing the perineum is impractical and not necessary.
2. To prevent infection, the nurse cleanses from the urinary meatus to the anus in one motion.
4. The nurse uses the dominant hand to cleanse from the urinary meatus to the rec-tum.