What if you have to pee during surgery?

[barb]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I am very interested in surgery, however, I have the world's smallest bladder. If I have to be in surgery for more than 4 hours, I think at some point, I will have to go pee. Do any of you have this problem? How will I pass my surgical rotation? Is there anything short of inserting a catheter that I could do? Can you just excuse yourself for a few minutes, take care of business, and then re-scrub?

 

[Fanconi]

Might I suggest a foley?

Ok, seriously...this was never a big problem for me, but I did on occasion feel the urge to sneeze.

Luckily I was able to suppress that urge, because how the hell do you sneeze and not contaminate everything???

 

[Purifyer]

You could fake diabetes insipidus... and take this artificial ADH/vassopressin sutff which basically stops water in your system getting passed into urine. Don't know how dangerous that would be though 🙂

 

[tulanestudent]

I was worried about that too, but had no problems when I did the surgery rotation. I guess somehow you just get busy and forget. You get the urge and then 5 hours later you remember you forgot to pee the second the case was over. I don't know why this happens, except maybe that you hardly get a chance to drink or eat anything anyway, so there isn't much to pee out anyway. Not too healthy, I guess, but it's only a few months, so it's not that bad.

 

[Billie]

Originally posted by Fanconi:
•Might I suggest a foley?

Ok, seriously...this was never a big problem for me, but I did on occasion feel the urge to sneeze.

Luckily I was able to suppress that urge, because how the hell do you sneeze and not contaminate everything???•••


You sneeze into your mask.

 

[NE_Cornhusker1]

I work with an orthopedic surgeon from China this summer and we got to talking about 12hr hand replanting surgeries. Nurses feed them and as for the bathroom issue he told you just kind of hold it and forget about it.

 

[drewdo]

First of all avoid diuretic agents like caffeine - hard to do on rotations I hear. Also, you are supposedly able to increase the volume of your bladder by constantly drinking plenty of fluids. Your bladder should eventually stretch and prolong the time before you feel the sensation to urinate.

 

[barb]

Thanks for the info you guys.

Drewdo, I'm going to start drinking tons of fluids now so my bladder will be at max capacity by the time I have that rotation.

 

[turtleboard]

Originally posted by Fanconi:
•Ok, seriously...this was never a big problem for me, but I did on occasion feel the urge to sneeze.

Luckily I was able to suppress that urge, because how the hell do you sneeze and not contaminate everything???•••

As someone had already suggested, you just sneeze into your mask. But you should take a step back and try not to turn your head -- just look down and sneeze. If you didn't already figure it out, turning your head sorta bends the mask funny and creates a big ol' hole in the side where your sneeze germs can come out and contaminate things.

 

[Winged Scapula]

I have a fairly small bladder myself but have never found the urge to urinate during a case - even really long ones. I do think you tend to forget about it and suppress the urge. Obviously don't load up on fluids before a case and I'm sure you'll be fine.

 

[Mary the Med Student]

I have a small bladder and a bottomless stomach. I found hunger much harder to deal with than the need to pee. I got very insistent that I went to the restroom immediately before every case actually went in the OR. I would make sure that I had made nice with the OR nurses and the attending early on, so that I wouldn't be missed for the five minutes just prior to scrubbing. As long as I did that, I could handle up to nine hours of surgery - at least in terms of peeing.

I would getn HUNGRY. Attendings could hear and would remark upon my growling stomach. Since I'm kinda skinny, they would accuse me of not eating enough and/or being anorexic. It was annoying, because the reason I couldn't eat was because I had too much work to do. And then when I had time, the cafeteria was inevitably closed.

Sneezing isn't a problem. Just sneeze in the mask. It isn't even that gross, because your mask is already damp from breathing.

-Mary

 

[tonem]

You could "accidently" contaminate your hands and when you have to go scrub in again you run to the bathroom

 

[Winged Scapula]

Originally posted by tonem:
•You could "accidently" contaminate your hands and when you have to go scrub in again you run to the bathroom•••

Boy...you'd really have to contaminate yourself to have them make you rescrub. 😉

Usually the procedure is to simply change gloves as your hands underneath the contaminated glove should presumably still be sterile.

 

[tonem]

I think you have to pull down your mask and sneeze into your hands to accomplish this feat properly. 😛

 

[Annette]

AH AH AH AHHHHHHHH CHOOO! Now you don't have to worry about holding your bladder!

If you are really worried, what about a "bladder control undergarment?" Certainly much nicer than a foley!

 

[jen628]

I was concerned about the peeing problem too. Fortunately, I tried to pee shortly before every case and that would be fine until I could go again after we took the patient to recovery. There was only once, during a twelve hour case, that things got bad. So, I said something jokingly about having to go to the bathroom and the attending, surprisingly, said he was just thinking the same thing. Then he said, "You go first." So I did. No big woop.

It seemed to me that as long as you are pulling your weight and don't do too many stupid things (sometimes difficult as a med student), surgeons can be reasonable people.

 

[Goofy]

Originally posted by barb:
•Thanks for the info you guys.

Drewdo, I'm going to start drinking tons of fluids now so my bladder will be at max capacity by the time I have that rotation.

•••

A lot of funny posts on SDN today 🙂

Barb, I am assuming you are of the female persuasion? In any case you might consider a self cath. You can tape the urine bag to your leg under your scrubs. Just be careful of where you insert the foley (my knowledge of the female urethra has frequently been tested by pompous surgery residents. Additionally, many a medical student has inserted the foley into the vagina or rectum.)

In all seriousness, you will be fine. You will be amazed at how long you can hold your water once your sympathetic system kicks in. Something that happens quite often around a surgeon.

Best of luck with your bladder

 

[giantDHrider]

dude man...just let it go...let it go man.

if there is a drain in the OR...stand over it.

😀

 

[JAMMAN]

I just tie mine in a knot until the case is over. 😱

 

[Winged Scapula]

I just tie mine in a knot until the case is over. 😱

Dude...way to revive a TWO YEAR old thread! Thems some searching skills.

 

[medic170]

Dude...way to revive a TWO YEAR old thread! Thems some searching skills.

LOL

 

[Blade28]

You could always excuse yourself...but personally, I tend to just suck it up. Same goes for going to the bathroom (#2), eating, resting your legs/back, etc.

 

[ericdamiansean]

I've got a senior who's addicted to the smell of burnt flesh from diathermy 😛

 

[wam_256]

I survived my surgery rotation....I was so busy that I didn't have time to realize that my bladder was full 😀