Basic Nursing 1st Edition by Judith Wilkinson, Leslie Treas

Exercise 21

Suppose your patient, Jeannette Wu, has become incontinent of bowel and bladder. Because she already has Impaired Skin Integrity, the physician writes a new order to insert an indwelling urinary catheter (a drainage tube inserted through her urinary meatus into her bladder). Urinary catheterization is a sterile technique. You have practiced this procedure in the skills lab, but you have never actually performed it on a patient.
• As a student, what should you do?
• If you were a licensed nurse, what are some things you could do to ensure that both you and the patient are prepared for the procedure?