foley ballon placement wrong?

Nurses General Nursing

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I can't not stop dwelling. I put in a foley Cath in man for my 2nd time last night and I feel I may have damaged him. when I filled the balloon up he stated it was painful at first and then said it wasn't painful. I got urine return all night but I feel I pay have filled up the ballon in the wrong place would he have been painful all night from it, if it was placed wronged?

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Usually even if you start to inflate the balloon slightly in the urethra it will pop into the bladder. A rule of thumb when inserting anything into anyone for any reason, this goes for sexy time as well, go slow and when there is pressure, pain, or resistance stop and think.

Speaking as a man, if he has feeling down there and is of sound mind to inform you of pain he would have reported something. The prostate is usually pretty sensitive.

I have seen a technique where after inserting and inflating the Foley you apply very gentle traction on the tube until you feel slight resistance, this tells you that the balloon was seated.

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Specializes in New Critical care NP, Critical care, Med-surg, LTC.

Agree with Asystole, you probably don't need to worry. There's a chance you started inflating the balloon in the urethra, but had it remained there it would likely have blocked urine. If the patient didn't complain of pain after the initial statement and there was no hematuria and urine returned, you're probably fine.

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From my experience, it is most painful for a man when the catheter starts passing through the prostate. If you got urine flow, that's the most important. A little bit of blood is normal; if there is excessive blood that doesn't stop, then that is not normal.

Personally, it sounds like everything went as planned.

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Specializes in School Nurse.

I'm not a man so I can't vouch for how it feels. I'm nervous about it too, so I just advance way more than is probably necessary and inflate the balloon. It always slides back noticeably when the balloon seats in place. I guess this causes a bit more discomfort (all that back and forth motion on the urethra) but it's probably better than the alternatives. Since about three out of four I do are on boys, you'd think I'd get used to it.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I always insert the foley all the way for a man to make sure it is not in the prostate. Then after inflating the balloon, the extra will slide back out.

Sometimes when men have enlarged prostate you can have trouble inserting it all the way and that is when you could have a problem with it being in the urethra. If it's in the wrong place, it will be painful and will start to bleed so if there was no bleeding and the urine flows freely it is fine.

T

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Specializes in Critical care.

Don't you mean you can't stop indwelling?

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