title: Postoperative bladder distention: measurement with bladder ultrasonography.
abstract: Bladder distention is a common postoperative occurrence. A process improvement project was conducted at a Midwestern Veteran Affairs Medical Center to determine whether a new method for detecting bladder distention, bladder ultrasonography, was more effective than manual palpation in the perianesthesia setting. Data were collected on 494 men over a 9-month period using bladder ultrasonography. Of those patients, 19.4% had postoperative bladder distention with greater than 400 mL of urine. This compared with 1.4% of patients who had bladder distention detected during the previous year using manual palpation. Data from the project supported the use of bladder ultrasonography as being more effective than manual palpation in the assessment of postoperative bladder distention in the PACU.
authors.affiliation: Veteran Affairs Medical Center, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Warner
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Phillips
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riske
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Haubert
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lash
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D006787:Hospitals, Veterans; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015146:Midwestern United States; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D010173:Palpation / Q000379:methods*; D019095:Point-of-Care Systems; D016528:Postanesthesia Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000451:nursing*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D014463:Ultrasonography; D016055:Urinary Retention / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000451:nursing*