Ostomy question?

[quetepye]

Hey everyone.

I have a question that I cannot figure out!

I had a patient last night on my tech shift who had a leaking ostomy. I was literally walking off the floor but his call light was on, so I stopped to check on him figuring he just needed help or something simple. ;-) Long story short, he had a piece of gauze over his stomach and clear fluid was really leaking out. He had a washcloth that was soaked, and the sheets were definitely damp, too. He was obviously distressed, but I had not had him as a patient at all so I didn't even know what was under the gauze or what he was in for. I asked him what it was and he was so upset he couldn't tell me. He said there was an INTERNAL pouch though.

So of course, I ran and got his RN who said she'd be in later and it was no big deal. The patient was livid when he heard that it would be a few minutes until someone could do something about his leak, so I just brought in more towels and tried to settle him down before the RN could come in. Since it was by then WAY past my shift end, I didn't get to stay and help out, but it's absolutely killing me trying to figure out what in the world that guy had. The nurse told me to tell the next shift's tech to wait to change his sheets until AFTER he self-cathed it, so I'm thinking maybe it was urinary? On this site I found some things that sound similar, but I'm still not sure. I also saw a few types of ostomies that we haven't even learned in my BSN-RN program and we're WAY past the class that covered all that.

Anyone have an easy way of understanding all of this? And what in the world did my patient have last night? Was that clear fluid truly not a big deal at all? It was quite a good amount.

Thanks! :)

:heartbeat

[EJSRN, BSN, RN]

hello quetepye. It sounds like an Indiana Pouch to me. It is basically a bladder made from a portion of the bowel because of bladder removal due to cancer etc. It would look like a stoma and the patient would self catheterize themselves. Was it possible the patient didn't have the correct materials at that time to self cath? It was urine that was leaking through the stoma. Hope that I answered your question..