Bladder infections

[flyingdoc]

Sitting in his own urine is not good for him but would not normally cause a bladder infection as the infection would have to track the length of the urethra (I am saying not normal not that it would be impossible)

 

There are other problems far more likely like skin problems and pressure area problems (if he is not being moved or moving himself enough)

 

Bladder infections may be a sign that he is not drinking enough - or not emptying his bladder properly - sometimes a problem in older men who have problems doing so due to enlargement of prostate.

This may also be the reason that he always seems to be wet - instead of using the toilet maybe half a dozen times a day - he cannot void his bladder and therefore it is constantly dribbling.

 

I would personally ask to speak to the matron of the nursing home and ask why he is so often wet (when there are other options such as sheaths which could carry the urine straight to a bag, although these come with their own issues)

 

In the first instance, were I in charge, (am a RN of many years experience) i would begin a fluid balance chart to monitor his fluid intake, and start a regimen of regular toileting (perhaps hourly to begin with and then increasing period to suit) and see what effect that has on a) his incontinence and b) his bladder infections.

If he appears to be having difficulty passing urine (provided his fluid intake is sufficient) then I would ask the GP to examine him.

 

My suspicion is, having done some shifts in NH, that the carers are not able to spend the time ensuring that he drinks enough, and toiletting him regularly, and that is the root of the problem.

[flyingdoc]

Sorry aviator but this is a particular soap box of mine (probably brought on by my mothers nagging to wear a jumper) but there is NO infection in the world that is caused by a chill (or any kind of cold)

 

Infection requires bacteria.

 

You CAN become more susceptible to catch an infection if your bodys natural defences are lowered by cold or other problems, but cold - in of itself is completely unable to do anything to you with regard to infections or viruses.

 

(cold can obviously kill through hypothermia but thats not an infection)

 

Right - feeling much better - rant over

[flyingdoc]

UK - rant was not at u but at the world in general and I apologise if it came across that way.

[flyingdoc]

I spent a good many years in the NHS as a nurse - and worked at every level from junior to night manager.

 

I found that the culture in our hospitals changed so much over the last 15 years that I had had enough and now work in claims management.

 

The response to the "what do you see" poem was at the time true but is not true now - things are far worse now.

 

I could write a litany on the problems with the NHS but not all of it is as a result of lack of funding. In fact there is argument that it is better funded now than ever before.

 

It is the mentality with which the Health service is run that is at fault. You cannot run a hospital like a business and yet they try.

 

Services are sourced out to the lowest bidder with little thought for quality and yet companies bid for contracts and make millions in profit.

 

There should be no profit from the health service and while there is - millions of pounds that should be spent on patient care is being syphoned off into the private sector.

 

However it is not just the politicians that are to blame.

 

Take the nursing profession.

 

They have increased their acedemic requrements for entry and made nursing a "degree" profession.

 

This sounds like a great idea - better patient care - but is this really happeneng?

 

The answer is no. All this has achieved is to exclude many people who would have made outstanding nurses but do not have the inclination aptitude towards academia. Consequently we have a lack of UK trained nurses.

 

Also some (not all) of the nurses that we do train - feel that basic nursing care is beneath them, and that they are too highly qualified to wipe a bottom when required.

 

This has left us importing foreign nurses (and I have no beef with them) but their systems of nursing in their countries vary wildly from ours and this makes maintaining standards difficult.

 

Then we have MRSA!!!

of course if a patient contracts MRSA then it MUST be the Doctors/Nurses fault.....

 

As a bed manager in a district general hospital - if a patient came in who was known to be MRSA +ve I had to find them a side ward - even if this meant moving a patient at 3am to accommodate them (for which complaints regularly came in)

 

The problem was then - that the next day I would meet this patient in the hospital shop or canteen. We can Isolate - but we cannot imprison so therefore the MRSA was spread by the patients themselves.

 

(I do not totally vindicate hospital staff - they do have a part to play without a doubt)

 

More and more nurses are expected to fill in for Junior Doctors whose hours have now been capped - Siting IV's, giving IV Drugs, Administering drugs thought central lines - Confirming Death - all used to be the job of the junior doctors - and many nurses are now carrying on this role to take the pressure off them.

However Nurses are still expected to completel their own tasks, looking after patients, nursing cares, administering medicines, dressings, supervision and training of junior staff and HCA's (who themselves are vastly abused and without whom the NHS would have collapsed)

 

And then when the food is cold - or the ward is dirty - who is to blame, the Government who have set impossible targets? The trust who have contracted out catering and cleaning to the cheapest provider who pay peanuts to children to complete the work? no its obviously the nurses fault as he/she has nothing better to do than damp dust all day.

 

Finally the attitude of the patients has changed.

 

It used to be that patients who were grateful for what you did for them, far outweighed patients who complained.

now it is completely the other way around.

 

Too many times in A&E I would be faced with a drunk chav - who would loudly proclaim that "he was paying my wages and I had to do what he said" - when in reality it was MY taxes paying for his drunkenness via various benefits that he claimed...

 

Too often you save a life and then get complained about or even sued for the loss of a cardigan or a PJ top, or because you looked at someone in a way they didnt like - or used a politically incorrect word.

 

I trained to be a nurse because I wanted to help people, I left nursing because I needed to save myself.

 

I am not even going to mention pay.......

[flyingdoc]

sali was your reply to my post or to the earlier post by Erica?