bowel care protocols - page 2

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Need some information. What do you use in your facillity as bowel care protocol esp. in relation to ICU patients. When do you intervene for constipation? What do you use for constipation? ... Read More

  1. by gwenith
    Jul 20, '03
    Bowel protocols ideally are to prevent constipation but if sources such as the cochrane database for evidence based practice cannot agree on the definition of constipation it leaves the situation up to experiienced persons come to consensus derived from practice wisdom.
  2. by WhiteCaps
    Jul 20, '03
    Prune juice seems to work best when it is warm!

    Try giving it a spin in the microwave for 30-60 seconds (depending on your microwave). I think it works best
    when it is almost coffee temp. But, very important to
    warn the pt it is hot & be sure to minimize the burn risk
    since they don't expect juice to be hot!
  3. by ktwlpn
    Jul 20, '03
    Originally posted by angelbear
    I know this sounds strange but this is a topic of interrest to me. At our facility BM's are a big deal. Our population is mostly total care(profound mental retardation). A good portion of our residents recieve miralax on a regular basis. From what we the lowly nurses have read this is not good. Miralax is meant to be for short term constipation. We go round and round about all this at work. Any thoughts?
    Miralax has been a savior for our late stage dementia people-it's as good as a stick of dynamite and much more comfortable.2 of our docs are very fond of sorbitol-nasty stuff and seems to cause a great deal of GI upset...Lots of fluids(8 oz with each med pass-3 nourishment rounds with another 8 oz plus the liquids with meals makes a great difference on our unit-and very seldom do we see UTI's-but when we do we get them in 3's (oh-that's another thread) Most important is to know each resident's bowel habits- not everyone poops daily or every 3 days----we have 3 that go 4 to 5 days and then evacuate without intervention(big uns,too-whooeee)
  4. by adrienurse
    Jul 21, '03
    I kind of like using microlax enemas for the LTC demented. Usually work right away, for a nice formed BM (no diarrhea for the rest of the am), much less traumatic than giving D&G supps (you're in -- you're out), doesn't seem to result in stomach cramps for a lot of people too.

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