Toileting

In health care, toileting is the act of assisting a dependent patient with his/her elimination needs.

Depending on a patient's condition, his/her toileting needs may need to be met differently. This could be by assisting the patient to walk to a toilet, to a bedside commode, onto a bedpan, or to provide a male patient with a urinal. A more dependent or incontinent patient may have his/her toileting needs met solely through the use of adult diapers. Other options are incontinence pads and urinary catheters.

Some patients can walk with assistance from another person, usually a health care worker. Aside from the need for this help, they are capable of meeting their own elimination needs.

Patients who cannot get out of bed easily but who can control their bladder and bowels are able to request a bedpan. The bedpan is placed underneath the patient, who can urinate or defecate as needed.

Some patients are able to place their own bedpans under themselves, and assistance is required only to empty them after the fact.

A urinal is much like a bedpan but only for a male, the urinal is shaped in a way that the male may use it while still in bed and remain comfortable. The urinal is also often used when input and output (I & O) must be recorded.

Incontinent patients often wear briefs to prevent their trousers from being stained by their elimination. Briefs must be checked and changed frequently.

Catheters, in this sense, are tubes that drain urine from the body. A Foley catheter, used with men and women, is inserted into the bladder. An external catheter is attached to the penis of a male patient. In the US, while Foley catheters can only be applied by a nurse or physician, external catheters can be attached by a certified nurse assistant.

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