title: Listening to bowel sounds: an evidence-based practice project: nurses find that a traditional practice isn't the best indicator of returning gastrointestinal motility in patients who've undergone abdominal surgery.
abstract: Nurses' practice of listening to bowel sounds was first proposed in 1905 and continues today, largely unquestioned. The authors developed a project to determine whether any compelling evidence exists for using this method to assess for the return of gastrointestinal (GI) motility following abdominal surgery. Literature on the subject was evaluated and an assessment of nursing practice was conducted. Based on the literature review and the assessment, a nursing practice guideline was developed, implemented, and evaluated. (Note that the nursing practice guideline outlined in this article was evaluated for use with abdominal surgery patients only and has not been evaluated in and may not be appropriate for other patient populations). The results were positive and indicate that clinical parameters other than bowel sounds, such as the return of flatus and the first postoperative bowel movement, are appropriate in assessing for the return of GI motility after abdominal surgery. Bowel sound assessment was discontinued and patient outcomes were evaluated to make sure that the practice change had no adverse effect on patients' recovery.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.forename: Tamara
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sebolt
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cullen
authors.forename: Beverly
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Folkedahl
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: Corinne
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Richardson
authors.forename: Marita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Titler
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D001314:Auscultation / Q000451:nursing*; D002983:Clinical Competence; D005769:Gastrointestinal Motility / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011182:Postoperative Care / Q000379:methods / Q000451:nursing*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results