This document discusses bowel elimination and the nursing role in assisting patients with bowel movements. It defines terms like defecation and peristalsis and outlines how aging can impact the gastrointestinal system. The nursing role includes assisting patients to the bathroom, providing peri care if needed, encouraging activity and a high-fiber diet, ensuring adequate fluids, and responding promptly to call lights. Conditions that can affect the GI tract like GERD, colostomies, impaction, and constipation are mentioned. Nurses may need to collect stool specimens following certain procedures.

1. Bowel Elimination
Chapter 17

2. Terms
• Defecation
– The act of passing feces out of the body
– Normal – soft, brown, formed, tubular shape
– Food, meds, illness can cause changes in BMs
• Peristalsis
– Involuntary muscle contractions that move food
through the GI tract
– Slows down as part of aging process
• Needs help

3. NA Role
• Assist to BR
• Assist with peri care, if needed
• Encourage activity, if appropriate
• Encourage consumption of high-fiber food, if
on care plan
• Encourage fluids
• Answer call lights promptly

4. GERD
• Gastroesophogeal Reflux Disease
– Feels like heartburn
– Stomach acid backs up into esophogus
– Meds given for this
– Sitting upright after eating helps

5. Conditions affecting GI system
• Colostomy – see pg 306 & 307 for details
– Stoma
– Collection bag
• Impaction
• Constipation
– Enemas
• Bottle
• Soap suds
• Mollasses
• You may have to do this when you go to work?
But not for state test (thank goodness!!!)

6. Specimens
• Sometimes you may be asked to collect a stool
specimen
– Certain procedure for this…you will be trained