When the blame gets turned on you.

[Jo Dirt]

This is long and I apologize for the drama but I woke up thinking about this and wanted to share.

My father-in-law is in assisted living but has recently needed a foley catheter. As we were walking him out the door home health came (no one knew HH was coming) and said they were going to take his catheter out. I apologized but told them we would be late for his doctor's appointment if we went to take out the catheter now. I know what it is like to go to a patient's house to find them heading out the door or gone, it is an inconvenience but it is a fact of life.

Anyway, the doctor made some med changes and said go ahead and dc the catheter. I asked him if he could do this at the office but he said he didn't have the equipment to take it out. I had some odds and ends supplies from my stint at home health. I asked the doctor if I could go ahead and take it out so the HH nurse wouldn't have to come back that day. He said it was fine with him, all that mattered was that it came out. So, we went by the house before taking him to the ALF and I took out the catheter. At first he freaked out and asked are you sure you know what you're doing??? (of course, Gramps, I've only done this about 500 times...) Anyway, he didn't even notice when I deflated the balloon and pulled the catheter out.

He ended up having to go to the ER that night because he couldn't void and the HH nurse said nothing came out when she put the catheter in. Then, the ER people acted like we were crazy when they put a catheter in and a few minutes later urine started flowing.

Then, my husband didn't make things any better by calling the HH agency the next day and unloading on the nurse because we were with him in the ER until 2AM. My husband blamed her for it because the guy in the ER said all the HH nurse would have had to do was wait a few minutes for urine return.

This all happened about a week ago. I want to add also that when the ER put the catheter in the first time there was some bleeding and he screamed in pain when they did this.

But this is what irks me. We went to see him yesterday and the couple who own the facility (the husband is a pharmacist) asked me if I was an RN then asked if I deflated the balloon all the way when I took his catheter out because he was bleeding a lot and his urine looked like molasses. I told them of course I deflated the balloon all the way. We informed them there had been bleeding when the catheter had been inserted before, and he has a history of kidney failure.

Anyway, we're going to take my FIL to a urologist, but it just steels my wool to have been asked such a thing, especially when I am always so conscientious about nursing procedures. In spite of other mistakes I might make, nursing procedures I take very seriously and I remember drawing the water out of that until I couldn't get any more.

I guess there were more people than just me who are victims of dumping. Now that I read this post it looks like the HH nurse who had trouble putting in the catheter got dumped on, too. I feel for her and can't be responsible for my husband. It doesn't make it any easier to take, though. Why does it seem to be nature for some people to have to dump blame on others?

[NurseCard, ADN]

We don't routinely do bladder retraining before removing a foley but I have seen it done with mixed results.

If there was some difficulty/blood inserting the catheter, that could cause some inflammation making it more difficult to void after removal (how long did he have the foley in?). And maybe Gramps is one of those guys who tug on it (un)intentionally, causing more inflammation. I hope he'll be ok.

BTW, I've seen nurses deflate a balloon without anything more than a pair of scissors!

How do you deflate the balloon with a pair of scissors???

MM, I was also curious as to if things were better between you and hubby. I hope so!!! :icon_hug:

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

How do you deflate the balloon with a pair of scissors???

Instead of connecting a luer lock syringe simply cut the tube just behind the connector and all of the saline will leak out on it's own. It's done daily in the hospital.

[Riseupandnurse]

my husband recently had a bout with BPH. Three times he had to go to ER over the weekend and was sent home with a catheter. The GU dr. all 3 times told him to just cut the water balloon tubing with some scissors at 5 am and come to the office at 10. He had no problems with it.

[NurseCard, ADN]

Instead of connecting a luer lock syringe simply cut the tube just behind the connector and all of the saline will leak out on it's own. It's done daily in the hospital.

Ah, thank you. I never knew. =)

[EmmaG, RN]

Ah, thank you. I never knew. =)

https://allnurses.com/forums/2473983-post11.html

I've only cut them during post-mortem care.

[JBudd, MSN]

The danger with cutting is that if for any reason it won't deflate, you have no good way of reconnecting a syringe to work with. (Very few of us have access to non luer-lock syringes anymore).

If the line is kinked or anyway compromised, you need to know how much liquid you did or didn't get out of the balloon.

Short cuts aren't really a good idea.

[DutchgirlRN, ASN, RN]

The danger with cutting is that if for any reason it won't deflate, you have no good way of reconnecting a syringe to work with.

Short cuts aren't really a good idea.

Actually, it is not a shortcut. There is more of a danger deflating the balloon with a syringe than by cutting. When you deflate with a syringe, up to 1cc can remain in the balloon. When you cut the entire balloon is deflated. If the foley won't come out a urologist must remove the foley using a guidewire. The #1 reason a foley will not come out, after the water is released is that it has adhered to the wall of the bladder. Cutting the port is actually the preferred method.