Survey: Male Urinal Spills

After a recent stay in the Hospital – and first hand experience with products that haven’t had a design improvement since 1950 – I’m working with a major disposable medical company and I’ve got to do a sanity check.

Portable male urinals and spills there of is the subject. I spilled 1 of every three times I had to use one. A survey of nurses I know (about 10) indicated they experienced at least one spill nearly every shift worked…unless they worked in an area where most patients could walk to the bathroom (like emergency).

So…what’s your experience?
- Spills per shift
- Patients using these urinals per shift
- Area of work
- Clean up time
- Instances of finally resorting to a catheter

Thank you so much for you input…Hopefully, something can be done to increase patient dignity and make this part of your job easier.


Yep, that’s the one.

Couple things.....

Most patients in an emergency room cannot get up and walk around- to the bathroom or elsewhere. There are just as many non-ambulatory patients in the emergency room as there are anywhere else in the hospital...

Spilling a urinal is not an indication for a foley catheter. Catheters are used for incontinence, urinary retention, or to measure output- not for the convenience of a nurse because his/her patient has spilled their urinal one too many times.....
:nurse-soapbox:

Your facility should look into Condom Caths; aka "Texas Catheter".



A friend of mine from college had CP and was in a wheelchair. He still had full function, but obviously could not get up to use the facilities. Furthermore, with the hamstring release surgeries, etc; he could not cath himself. He finally did some research and came across the texas catheter, and never had a problem.

Interesting topic. It's been my experience that so many spills occur when taking the urinal away. If the opening were redesigned to work in more of a one-way fashion, less spilling would happen. I've seen urinals (not in hospitals) with funnel-like openings to prevent back-flow so, Cat, you're not off the mark. My guess is that cost is the issue.

Mechanicals aside, another very common problem is edema. Sometimes you just can't get the urinal in the right place or at the right angle. Even though the patient is otherwise very capable of managing a urinal, I've put in foleys for the purpose of skin protection.

R

Thank you for all your input...all good ideas and information. Yes, cost is of course a barrier...the company I'm working with wants to justify a higher cost via less clean up

So...can you all comment on your experience?
- Spills per shift
- Patients using these urinals per shift
- Area of work
- Clean up time

Thank you for all your help!