Output?

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If you are all tired of me asking these questions let me know-

When instructing your patient about using the toilet, and using the "hat" do you have them move their bowels into it as well? If so, do you remove formed stools with a glove? Do you ask them to throw toilet paper into water?

My mind is racing with all of these little questions....

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Specializes in Psych, LTC, Acute Care.

I would definetly not mix BM with urine in the hat. Usually there is enough room in the average hospital toilet that allows a person to have a BM without it entering the hat at the same time. Also have the patient to throw the tissue in the trash and not the hat.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

you keep asking ... i am following you around learning. i am fixin to apply for my cpne and i am gathering info..

ok-

if you are all tired of me asking these questions let me know-

when instructing your patient about using the toilet, and using the "hat" do you have them move their bowels into it as well? if so, do you remove formed stools with a glove? do you ask them to throw toilet paper into water?

my mind is racing with all of these little questions....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I would definetly not mix BM with urine in the hat. Usually there is enough room in the average hospital toilet that allows a person to have a BM without it entering the hat at the same time. Also have the patient to throw the tissue in the trash and not the hat.

Thanks for the info, my concern is that the patient has a loose stool that maybe I should have measured.

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Sometimes people do two hats........one in front and one in back. But definitely make sure the two don't mix.

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Specializes in LTC, Acute Care.
Sometimes people do two hats........one in front and one in back. But definitely make sure the two don't mix.

Okay, the mental image of actually using this made me laugh! Does this work? I would have to shift myself back and forwards to make this work.

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It's unlikely that you'll get output on an ambulatory patient, I think.

In the real world poop misses the hat.

:)

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It depends on what you are trying to achieve. For many of my patients I want to know strict urine output (meaning as exact as possible), but I only want to know if they did indeed have a BM. I don't require them to save their BM, but will ask a couple of questions to find out if it was formed, if they had any difficulty and if this is normal for them. In this case the hat in the front of the toilet and they can just flush down the BM.

There are pt's that I want to collect a stool sample from, or maybe just see their stool and I will double hat as previously mentioned, or just ask them not to flush if I don't want to collect it, but just want to see it. The double hat is often a mess, but when you need the data it is often the best option.

For males I ask them to use the urinal and save it. That works well.

Depending on the size and physical make up of an individual, body fluids don't always go where you want them, urine can miss the hat, and stool and urine can get mixed. Stools are not always formed and you can end up with an indistinguishable mess. It happens, so just record what you see and move on. Not a big deal. Often times at the end of the shift I will have my I&O's that will say "560cc of urine plus 2 times" (the two times being the pt forgot to put the hat back in the toilet, or used the toilet while downstairs at a test or something), so the output is not exact, but gives a pretty good idea of what's going on with the pt. I've recorded "600cc mix of urine and liquid stool".

I often need I&O's on ambulatory people. Just depends what is going on with the patient and what information is needed to give them the best treatment.

And yes.. there are no dumb questions! Hang in there J

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