Female foley cath- burning

by Cabbagehead, BSN, RN
  3,511 Views   5 Comments

  1. Hi- I am a new grad and inserted a foley cath in a female patient yesterday. It was my second time doing it, so I was nervous. Anyway, I got immediate urine return, advanced it, then inflated the balloon. About 7cc's into the inflation she started to yelp. Said it was burning. My preceptor was in the room and told me to just continue inflating to 10ccs. I advanced a little more and the patient still had pain. Urine return was evident, so I'm just wondering if there's something else I did wrong.
    Thanks for any suggestions!
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  2. 5 Comments

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  3. by WalkieTalkie
    Mar 24, '09
    I would have deflated the balloon and then advanced it further to see if that alleviated the pain. There's a chance you're still somewhere in her urethra. Other times I've seen this happen, the patient may be having bladder spams, have an active UTI, or other urinary anomaly.
  4. by RochesterRN-BSN
    Mar 24, '09
    yeah I was thinking either a UTI or even latex allergy. Is it still draining? how does the urine look?
  5. by Cabbagehead
    Mar 24, '09
    That makes sense. It was hard to tell what was going on with this patient since she had other pain/discomfort issues. The urine was clear and yellow, so no problems there. In the case of a UTI is the catheter removed?
  6. by diane227
    Mar 29, '09
    Deflate the balloon and advance it further into the bladder. Even though you get an initial urine return, the balloon might not be in far enough. I advance my foleys almost to the Y in females and always to the Y in males, inflate the balloon and then pull back until I get resistance. If you blow up a balloon in the urethra you can damage that area. Any time the pt feels pain when the balloon is being inflated, you should assume that the balloon is in the urethra.
  7. by TX_TeleRN
    Mar 30, '09
    You should definitely deflate the balloon whenever a patient complains of pain. Echoing others who have replied, advance the catheter 1-2 in. more before reinflating. I would request for a UA, if there is not one already ordered to ensure no UTIs. Good luck!

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