Female Bed Urination in the Cath Lab: Let’s Upgrade!

Four years ago, I watched quizzically as a PACU nurse neatly placed an emesis basin and Yankauer suction beneath my post cardiac cath female’s perineum. She did this in response to the patient’s request for a bedpan. I was stunned! There was no lifting, no turning, no assistance required and ultimately no spilling. When I asked the PACU nurse about this unusual procedure, she replied matter-of-factly, “I don’t have time to use fracture pans, they never work.” Again, I was stunned. In over thirty years of nursing, ten of which were spent in cath labs, I had never seen such a thing. Why didn’t I ever think of that? Over those years, I have seen countless “doo-dads” introduced to the cath lab. (Just how many non-reimbursable closure devices do we need, anyway?) The companies and their vendors spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and hours convincing us why we need their new doo-dad. But we cath lab nurses are still subjecting our female patients to pans designed 30 years ago that cause urine to run up their backs. Or, worse yet, we insert urinary catheters for convenience. (Admit it, we are all guilty.) It is definitely time for a bedpan upgrade for female urination. It is time to stop wasting time and energy lifting and turning and changing the linens. After being politely (and sometimes impolitely) rejected by bedpan manufacturers and other companies who make healthcare products, I became quite passionate about getting someone to make us a product that works. I was unsuccessful. They told me, “There is nothing wrong with the fracture pan, we sell millions of them,” or, “No one’s ever complained before,” and my favorite, “The profit isn’t worth the research and development.” R&D for a bedpan? When they did the original R&D, did they somehow miss the fact that the pans spill every time? (The fracture pan only holds 250 mls on a tilt.) The bedpan has been in use for bed patients for over 100 years. It is not even considered a medical device. It doesn’t require FDA approval. R&D for a bedpan? No wonder our health care dollars are in jeopardy! This “who cares” attitude exhibited by company naysayers just spurred me on. I freaked out my husband by designing and manufacturing my own bedpan. The design got a patent, my husband got a garage full of bedpans, and my co-workers and I don’t have to use fracture pans anymore. In fact, we haven’t used fracture pans for two years now. There are naysayers everywhere, including nurse managers and purchasing departments. Their knee-jerk response to the new bedpan usually has something to do with the mistaken notion that vendor contracts would be violated. Don’t let them buffalo you! Sole-source suppliers of niche products do not affect and are not affected by vendor contracts. According to the TeamBuilders International 2006 in their copyrighted program, “Selling to Hospitals – Business Value Mapping,”: “National contracts don’t guarantee or prevent business from being conducted at the hospital level.” (This program also instructs on how to sell into the gap with niche products.) Acquiring new products at nurses’ request can be done. So, are there any staff out there ready for an upgrade? Your patients, and your back, will thank you! You can see my new bedpan, the Urinevac, at: https://www.urinevac.com/. I can be contacted at: rkorjack@tampabay.rr.com Acknowledgments I would like to extend special thanks to Dr. Morton Kern for looking at my idea and encouraging me to write, and to Anne Hudson, RN, of WINGUSA, for her humorous and encouraging words, “If it was made to keep the penis dry, they would sell like hotcakes!”

Suggested Reading
American Nurses Association. Position Statement on Elimination of Manual Patient Handling to Prevent Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders. Originated by: Nurse Advocacy Program Center for Occupational Health and Safety. Effective date June 21, 2003.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Hospital Acquired Conditions: Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infection. Available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ HospitalAcqCond/06_Hospital-Acquired %20Conditions.asp. Accessed May 9, 2008
Hess CT, Rook LJ. Understanding Recent Regulatory Guidelines for Hospital-Acquired Catheter-Related Urinary Tract Infections and Pressure Ulcers. Ostomy/Wound Management 2007;53(12): 34-42.
McIntosh J. Realizing the Potential of Urinals for Women. JCN Online Journal 1998;12(8). Available at http://www.jcn. co.uk/journal. asp?MonthNum=08&YearNum=1998&Type+backissue. Accessed Oct. 10, 2007.
Toughill E. Indwelling Urinary Catheters: Common Mechanical and Pathogenic Problems. AJN 2005;105(5):35-37.
Vonfrolio LG. Who Has a Forklift? RN 2006;69(11):56.