Nursing as they say is a calling is a full-time job that requires caring for their patients’ lives. Nurses offer encouragement to the patients and prescribe a best-fitting care plan for those with different conditions.
Urine retention is a condition where you are unable to completely empty the bladder anytime you pass urine. Let’s discuss some of the causes of urine retention, types of urine retention, and the nursing care plan for urinary retention.
Understanding urinary retention.
As earlier described that this is the condition where one is unable to completely empty their bladder, urinary retention has a number of causes that can be diagnosed by the doctor, and an appropriate nursing care plan is prescribed as per the degree of the retention.
Urinary retention can be caused by a number of situations and scenarios. Actually, it is very important to urinate with no complications and it is highly recommended that if you notice any kind of abnormalities when urinating you should find help as soon as possible.
Urine is held in the bladder and the other major organs involved with urine in the body are:
This is the tube that is to transport the urinary tract to the outside of the body.
- Internal sphincter.
The internal sphincter also referred to as the bladder outlet and holds the urine before its time.
- External sphincter.
The external sphincter is found on the outside of the canal. It contains muscles that can be contact red voluntarily. Controls the passing of the urine when you let me out
- Prostate (only in men).
This is also part of urinary function and is close to another urinary tract system.
With the urinary system explained, now let’s see what happens when you urinate.
Urination or micturition just like any other process in the body starts to form the brain which is the central nervous system. To urinate, the brain signals the sphincters and then they relax slowly the bladder tightens, and squeezes the urine through the urethra, and then out of the body.
There are a number of possible causes of urinary retention in both men and women. Listed below are some causes of the common causes:
Obstruction
Obstruction occurs when the urine route is obstructed by a foreign object. This could lead to chronic urinary retention as the swelling occurs over time and a small amount of urine is let out. Possible causes of obstruction are a swollen urethra, urethras constriction which causes urine to struggle to come out, constipation, kidney stones, or a clot in the urethra.
Medication
There are some medications that weaken the muscles and some affect the urinary system. Such medications include pain relievers, medication for Parkinson’s disease, morphine, and antipsychotic drugs among others.
Nerve problems
Disruption or damage of the normal nerve flow would lead to urinary retentions. The brain can therefore not receive adequate signals from the other part of the body want and cannot be controlled somehow. Conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, diabetes complications, spine or brain injury, and Parkinson’s disease among others.
Nursing care plan for urinary retention evaluation
When a patient visits a health facility with possible symptoms of urinary retention an evaluation must be carried out to ascertain whether chronic or acute. A urodynamic test will be ordered to ascertain the magnitude of the retention. Uroflowmetry is used to measure the released amount of urine from the body and the speed at which it is traveled outside the body.
Studying the pressure at which the urine is released will advise the nurse leaders and the health officers on the possible nursing care plan. At this point, the nurse will be able to determine if the patient’s condition is chronic or acute urinary retention.
- Encourage continuous urinating
Perennial urination helps in protecting the wound or the affected area from further infection.
- Bladder scan
The evaluation could be before treatment to ascertain the damage or after medication to evaluate the progress. Either way, whenever it is necessary to scan should be done if there are further concerns with the bladder.
The bladder scan is performed to evaluate if the patient is still retaining urine and to what capacity or the healing trend.
- Abdominal assessment
The nurse during an evaluation also assesses the abdomen to feel the bladder palpitating rate to determine if there is any tenderness in the bladder. These nursing care plans for urinary retention are to enable the nurses to have a clear record of the pattern of the patient’s urination.
Nursing care plan for acute urinary retention
After diagnosis, the health practitioners will evaluate whether the urinary retention is chronic or acute. The conditions are subjected to different treatment or care plans by the assigned nurse.
Acute urinary retention is considered when there is onset in the inability to pass urinate that leads to pain and discomfort. Men are more susceptible to acute urinary retention because of the possibility to have an enlarged prostate. There is a different nursing care plan for urinary retention for both men and women.
It has been noted that some patients with acute urinary retention are able to pass small urine midst pain. Some of the care plans nurses could use for acute urinary retention are:
- Giving the patient a list of the things or activities to avoid.
These activities that are regarded as triggers should be avoided. Such measures always assist the patients by relaxing the muscles of the urinary tracts controlled by the central nervous system.
- Administration of medication
After hospital treatment, a number of medications will be given by the nurse followed by instructions for admission. The family members must be educated on the admissions of when and how. The drugs are usually geared towards healing and also slowing down any further infections in the affected areas and maintaining appropriate bladder functionality.
Nursing care plan for urinary retention after surgery
Surgery is one of the treatments for acute or chronic urinary retention. The best care plans for a patient after surgery are:
- Catheter insertion.
The patient might be maimed for a while and the insertion of a catheter would be ideal. Nurses should educate the patient’s family members on how to keep the catheter clean and how to change it whenever it is necessary.
- Catheter care
The family members should as well be educated on what is catheter and why their kin has to have it. They should also be educated on how to take care of it, how to check the position of the kink, and constantly ensure that it is well placed.
- Provide appropriate catheter care when it is needed
When the catheter insertion becomes part of the treatment after surgery, appropriate care is required to avoid any potential infections in the wound. A nursing care plan for urinary retention after surgery is sometimes considered the most delicate because it is susceptible to infections.
Nursing care plan risk for urinary retention
Amidst the nursing care plan for urinary retention sometimes there are a number of risks involved.
- Additional morbidity
Some of the care plans have led to additional morbidity in the past with some causing more harm to patients.
- Infection due catechization
A catheter should only be recommended when is very necessary. Urethral catheterization should be considered the last resort because it can cause urinary tract infections and thus would lead to another surgery.
- Effects of anesthesia
The type of anesthesia used also has effects on the patients. The use of analgesics and opiates causes a lot of pain to the patients with the effects lasting a long time even after surgery.
Summary
A nursing care plan for urinary retention is the specific care procedure nurses give to patients with urinary retention complications. These care plans vary case by case depending on the nature that is chronic or acute urinary retention. The purpose of the plan prescribed after diagnosis is to help the patient get better and have a normal urinating pattern. Are you looking for a nursing care plan for urinary retention? Reach out to us at proscholarly.com to help with your nursing papers.