So, the other day, with the help of a coworker, I successfully placed a Foley catheter into a male for the first time...or, did I?
My coworker had me keep inserting the catheter into his member until we got urine return. When we saw urine output, we inserted the syringe to inflate the balloon. What I noticed was that, although we were able to insert about 10cc into the catheter, it was a little difficult to do so. I'm not sure if it is because I wasn't used to the amount of pressure needed to insert fluid, or if there was something else going on.
Anyway, we get the catheter inserted, and urine is draining. Urine is yellow and clear with no order. In a couple of hours, his entire leg bag is more than half full.
However, the patient also complained that the new catheter felt like it was "burning." I consulted with a couple of other nurses, as to what may be going on, and they didn't have much of a comment. They said the discomfort was likely due to having the catheter being changed, and that the previous one hadn't bothered him because he'd gotten used to it. They also did not have any good suggestions as to what may help relieve the patient's discomfort. However, one of the nurses thought it possibly could be the material on the catheter causing the discomfort. I don't remember if the catheter had latex in it, as my coworker selected the catheter for me to use. At the same time, I did look at the patient's chart and he wasn't known to have any allergies.
Anyway, there were no supervisors around, so, because it was draining well, I left the catheter in for the oncoming nurse to take a look at. Initially the oncoming nurse didn't seem too concerned about it either. Also, I did see the patient get up and start ambulating, so I'm wondering if he was actually in that much pain.
Needless to say, without any good answers, it's been bothering me a bit. Any ideas of what may be causing the problem?
