Bowel managementAndrea Morgan learnt about bowel care for spinal cord injured patients after reading a learning zone article

摘要

I was interested in this article as I have cared for a patient who had transverse myelitis. She initially presented with back pain and then developed numbness in her lower body. She was already catheterised but had problems with faecal incontinence. Treatments to improve the feeling and function of her lower body were unsuccessful and she was restricted to a wheelchair.One of the greatest challenges for this patient, as highlighted in the article, was the fear of leaving the hospital even for a few hours with her family, in case she had an episode of incontinence.Bowel dysfunctionThe article was helpful in describing the different types of bowel dysfunction that can occur follow wing a spinal injury, depending on the nerves that are affected. Patients will havelittle or no awareness of their bowel being full, so they can experience constipation and/or diarrhoea.