I am actually an experienced peds nurse but I havent worked pediatrics in a hospital so I am sure that this is used in a hospital. I started a new case and in the paperwork there was some symbols that I didnt recognize and I tried looking up but this one I havent been able to find. I know that it represents dirty diapers and it is probably different for urine and stool but I am not sure, it looks sort of like a T or the Pie symbol with dots on top and what I need is an explanation of what exactly the symbol means, which is for a urine diaper, which is for stool and do the dots mean something different? thanks so much!

an angels mommy

I think what you're seeing is a notation of the quantity of wet or dirty diapers changed during a particular time frame.

Remember way back to nursing school, when 1 of something was noted like the small letter "i", 2 of something as 2 small letters, "ii", and so on.

Most peds flow sheets have separate columns for voiding and stooling. For a child not on strict I&0, it is typical to note "i" for a single wet diaper changed, "ii" for two voids, and so on.

An alternative is just to make a check mark when a diaper is changed, then total at the end of the shift.

I agree those are numbers, those are no longer 'accepted' notations but they still get used at my facility.......lol then again some people still use mgm for mg as well.

Thank you, that is what I figured I want to be sure what the exact symbol if anyone knows. I tried look it up, I have never been able to find a site that actually has this symbol, in fact, I couldnt find any other symbols, all I could find were abbreviations. The normal flow sheet we use has an hourly box and we note I /O and what type and in another column we detail the urine or stool as far as consitency and color etc. I just started working for another agency and in this particular case, the child has a metabolic condition so they keep strict I/O and on this sheet, each column is for a particular vital or statistic we are keeping track of such as diapers, HR, RR, Temp, Etc.

thanks for your help!

angels mommy

so is that what it is, an i? it looked more like a T with a dot... and that is just for urine? I will ask the nurse I am precepting with at the case I go to tomorrow if they use the same abbreviation there, they may not, the one nurse that worked the case there is older and it may be just his abbreviations but I was looking through the paperwork right before I left and figured it was something I could look up but then couldnt find it anywhere.

angels mommy

so is that what it is, an i? it looked more like a T with a dot... and that is just for urine? I will ask the nurse I am precepting with at the case I go to tomorrow if they use the same abbreviation there, they may not, the one nurse that worked the case there is older and it may be just his abbreviations but I was looking through the paperwork right before I left and figured it was something I could look up but then couldnt find it anywhere.

angels mommy

a T with one dot means one a T with 2 dots above it means 2

thank you, that is what I thought it was. is there a difference for stool vs. urine? I appreciate all the answers. I know someone said that this is not used anymore. I wonder if I should put in a call to the agency and actually see what their policy is, their are a lot of abbreviations that used to no longer are accepted but I would think that since the nurse here has been there for several years that his supervisor would have seen this and would know if it is an acceptable abbreviation, right?? I guess I shouldnt assume.

so is that what it is, an i? it looked more like a T with a dot... and that is just for urine? I will ask the nurse I am precepting with at the case I go to tomorrow if they use the same abbreviation there, they may not, the one nurse that worked the case there is older and it may be just his abbreviations but I was looking through the paperwork right before I left and figured it was something I could look up but then couldnt find it anywhere.

angels mommy

a T with one dot means one a T with 2 dots above it means 2.

English used in Prescription Writing

thank you, that is what I thought it was. is there a difference for stool vs. urine? I appreciate all the answers. I know someone said that this is not used anymore. I wonder if I should put in a call to the agency and actually see what their policy is, their are a lot of abbreviations that used to no longer are accepted but I would think that since the nurse here has been there for several years that his supervisor would have seen this and would know if it is an acceptable abbreviation, right?? I guess I shouldnt assume.

It has nothing to do with stool vs. urine. The T with a dot simply means "one"; the pi with two dots means "two."

It is not a "T" It is a Roman numeral i ii iii The bar on top is for clarification to ensure a separation between the number and the dot. The i, ii, iii have no description associated with them, they could be i urine diaper, i tablet, i teaspoonful, i sandwich whatever the context. If that is the only record in your case of numbers of diapers changed I would ask for clarification of how many were urine vs. stool.

in this particular case, the child has a metabolic condition so they keep strict I/O and on this sheet, each column is for a particular vital or statistic we are keeping track of such as diapers, HR, RR, Temp, Etc.

thanks for your help!

angels mommy

Absolutely NOT a peds nurse here, but in my peds rotation in NS, we were taught that for I/O for wet diapers, each diaper should be weighed, the dry weight of the unused diaper subtracted (we had standard dry weights posted for each size of diaper), and the difference recorded in mL on the output sheet. I'm confused as to why "wet diaper x1" would be acceptable for a child on strict I/O? I know this doesn't answer your original question (CoffeeNurse & LouisVRN posted what I would have), but I am curious.

:paw: