Assisting Patients With Elimination

Assisting patients with elimination is an essential aspect of the nurse's role and has important medical significance as well as psychosocial effects on the client's quality of life. As the pattern of healthy bowel movements and urination vary in different patient groups, the management for each patient population may differ. Nurses need to assist with healthy elimination patterns to ensure patients are having regular soft bowel movements and adequate urination and to identify abnormal patterns such as flatulence, constipation, diarrhea, incontinence, fecal impaction, hemorrhoids as well as polyuria, anuria, and other abnormalities which can be signs of underlying medical conditions.