How much urine CAN a bladder hold?

Published

SNF. Got report that "Mr. Smith" was acting 'funny'. After report I checked him- his belly was bigger than a basketball. He had a catheter, with scant/foul urine. I decided to try to irrigate it. Blocked. I replaced it, and the flow was so furious I had to clamp the line, in order to have time to empty the drain bag. As I had other things going on, it took me several trips to get back to him to empty that bag. Total outout was 10,000 cc. I know now, that had I allowed his bladder to empty all at once, it could have harmed him big time. My naivety saved him some trauma....

Or maybe my replacing that catheter saved him some trauma. In any event, I've never seen such a sight. His belly deflated like a popped helium balloon.

Specializes in ortho, hospice volunteer, psych,.

I am absolutely amazed! The most I've ever seen was 3 litre bladder on someone with chronic retention!

Specializes in Nephrology, Dialysis, Plasmapheresis.
SNF. Got report that "Mr. Smith" was acting 'funny'. After report I checked him- his belly was bigger than a basketball. He had a catheter with scant/foul urine. I decided to try to irrigate it. Blocked. I replaced it, and the flow was so furious I had to clamp the line, in order to have time to empty the drain bag. As I had other things going on, it took me several trips to get back to him to empty that bag. Total outout was 10,000 cc. I know now, that had I allowed his bladder to empty all at once, it could have harmed him big time. My naivety saved him some trauma....[/quote']

Holy cow! That's 22lbs of urine!! I would be very worried about that patient, prob not out of the danger zone yet. Although, I've never heard of such a thing!

SNF. Got report that "Mr. Smith" was acting 'funny'. After report I checked him- his belly was bigger than a basketball. He had a catheter, with scant/foul urine. I decided to try to irrigate it. Blocked. I replaced it, and the flow was so furious I had to clamp the line, in order to have time to empty the drain bag. As I had other things going on, it took me several trips to get back to him to empty that bag. Total outout was 10,000 cc. I know now, that had I allowed his bladder to empty all at once, it could have harmed him big time. My naivety saved him some trauma....

A bladder holding 10 liters, 2.6 gallons, of urine? Wow, just wow!

I forget what can happen if a bladder that full were to drain all at once, I recall it could be serious. Again, good thing I had to keep coming and going. His mental state didn't seem to change, he was aphasic, as well. I did call the provider, I don't recall any urgent new orders being given, no. And oviously the I/O sheets from the prior shifts were full of BS, he hadn't been touched since maybe the before?

Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

The answer to the original question, "How much urine can a bladder hold?" is "It depends on whether or not the bladder belongs to a nurse or not!"

Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

How did his urine retention go on so long without being noticed? Nobody noticed he hadn't voided in days? If he had a foley, wasn't anyone maintaining the bag, doing I & O's on him? What did the MD think of this when you called him/her? This has all sorts of wrong going on here.

How did his urine retention go on so long without being noticed? Nobody noticed he hadn't voided in days? If he had a foley, wasn't anyone maintaining the bag, doing I & O's on him? What did the MD think of this when you called him/her? This has all sorts of wrong going on here.

Obviously he had been ignored for a long time, the I/O was bogus, etc. Even the nurse that gave me report obviously didn't bother to check him. The place was a rather worst-case scenario of a SNF. The MD didn't bat an eye.

He would probably have hydronephrosis to some degree, and would likely go into post obstructive diuresis.

+ Join the Discussion