bleeding after catheter insertion?

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I've been a nurse for about six months. Yesterday I inserted a foley catheter into an older man. I didn't encounter any prostate issues and it went in smoothly, I got urine return and then advanced the catheter to the bifurcate site before inflating the balloon. Then I pulled down to make sure it was in place, then attached the stat loc. The urine was clear and yellow. Flash forward about three hours, I went to check in on the patient and the urine was now reddish colored. Patient did not complain of any pain. Is this normal or did I do something wrong?

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Why did you insert the catheter?

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Did the urine ever clear? When you say "reddish"... like, a tinge of red?

Maybe more pink? Or what?

There could have been some slight trauma from insertion, even though

the insertion seemed to go smoothly. If it clears up I might inform

the doctor what happened, but probably nothing too serious.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

He could have tugged on it a little bit. Hence the 'pinkish' tinge.

Even just a turn-over in the bed could have tugged it a little.

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Movement could have caused pulling of the catheter. The biggest concern would be, to identify if there are other things happening to cause the bleeding. If the urine was more than tinged, he could be having other problems. When this happens, assess for signs and symptoms of hemorrhage or other complications. Assessing the vital signs would be able to help with identifying hemorrhage e.g. blood pressure decreasing and pulse increasing and continuous monitoring of amount of blood in the urine.

It sound like you have done the procedure correctly.

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Specializes in retired LTC.

Pt on any anticoagulant meds???

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