Does this happen to anyone else? (female cath)

AuntieRN · Oct 17, 2009

Oh honey dont feel stupid. This happens to the best of us. Females are harder then males to get catheters into especially the older they are. With practice comes perfection. This was your first try. Be kind to yourself and give yourself a break.

Just last week my boss (whos been an RN for 15 yrs and myself RN for 3 years) attempted to put a f/c in a 94 yo female w/fractured hip. We had her in trendelenberg even almost standing on our heads in her bed and we couldnt for the life of either of us get it where it belonged....

melmarie23, MSN, RN · Oct 17, 2009

this totally happened to me the first time I did a cath. It too was on a female patient and I too got it in the lady parts on mistake! You'd think it'd be pretty easy, but its not!

I did as you did...left the first cath tube in and used it as a marker of where not to go when I inserted the second!

Dont feel bad...this happens more often than you think!

morte, LPN, LVN · Oct 17, 2009

lol....all.the.time.......the older they are, or the more babies (additional tears) the harder they will be

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Oct 18, 2009

I haven't done this on a real person yet but from listening to our instructors it happens quiet often, in fact they said sometimes the anatomy can be so different looking sometimes that seasoned professionals have got it wrong before. They also said always leave in the first one like you did as a marker and do it again and make sure you take the first one with you with your trash. I am nervous to do my first one on a person. The opportunity doesn't arise often in LTC.

RMH_RN_EMT · Oct 18, 2009

My first experience putting in a f/c was the same. It was on an obese older woman (60's maybe) and she wasn't being very cooperative. I had my instructor and another student helping to hold back her pannis but I still couldn't see very well and missed, missed the second try to! Then my instructor missed, then the unit nurse missed, then another nurse came in and tried and said she got it in, but there was never a return of fluid in the c/s bag so she missed too! Anyway.. I didn't feel bad about it because everyone else missed also and she was obese which makes it very hard to see what your doing. I work in the OR now and I'm a foley queen because most of our pts need them intraop. It's so much easier when they are asleep. When it's time for you to observe in the OR, ask your instructor if you can place the foley if the pt needs one, or at least ask the circulating nurse if you can stand there and watch, because I'm telling you once their asleep and relaxed, it's a whole different ballgame! (and it would be a great confidence builder for students!)

suanna · Oct 18, 2009

Admittedly as a male in nursing my experience in placing a foley on a female patients has been limited, but I have seen as many as 3 foleys dangling out of a lady parts before one got placed in the urethra. I bet it is more than likely the most common place for the foley to end upon the first attempt. As far as leaving it in the lady parts and starting over with a clean cath for the urethra- despite the fact that it is the proper way to place a foley- I bet 90% of the time nurses just withdraw it and reinsert it into the urethra.

carolinapooh, BSN, RN · Oct 18, 2009

OMG - you should have been on the unit the day it took three of us (three RNs, mind you) to get a cath in a lady - she had about five of them in various locations - she was so cute and such a good sport...

We should have called in our CNA, who has an enviable success record!

studentnurse2012 · Oct 18, 2009

Thank you all! This has made me feel a lot better about doing this....i thought for a while i was the only one!

ellakate · Oct 18, 2009

Hence the need for a foley with a light on it!

~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN · Oct 18, 2009

Admittedly as a male in nursing my experience in placing a foley on a female patients has been limited, but I have seen as many as 3 foleys dangling out of a lady parts before one got placed in the urethra. I bet it is more than likely the most common place for the foley to end upon the first attempt. As far as leaving it in the lady parts and starting over with a clean cath for the urethra- despite the fact that it is the proper way to place a foley- I bet 90% of the time nurses just withdraw it and reinsert it into the urethra.

YIKES I hope the percentages aren't that high, it would surely explain the high infection rate though!

missy--kay · Oct 18, 2009

Don't feel stupid!! The first female cath I did was on a lady in labor with an epidural (thank goodness). It was me and midwife and neither one of us had any luck!! We had the overhead light on, the spotlight and still couldn't get it. The MW told me to "get closer" and really look for it... at that moment the lady sneezed and peed all over me. Ick. But... I found the urethra!!

You are definetly not the only one!!!