This nursing care plan is for patients who are experiencing bowel incontinence. Patients can experience bowel incontinence for numerous reasons. Some of these reasons include: impaired control of rectal sphincter, cognitive impairment, over distention of the rectum due to fecal impaction, just to name a few.
Bowel incontinence is where a patient loses the ability to control their bowel movements. Bowel movements will happen suddenly leaving the patient without the ability to get to the bathroom soon enough. Patients tend to be embarrassed by this and should be reassured by the nurse that this issue can be managed. This is where a nursing care plan can help out. The nursing care plan can outline goals and interventions the nurse can take to help the patient manage their bowel incontinence.
Patient with bowel incontinence are also at risk for skin breakdown and disruptive in activities of daily living.
Below is a case scenario that may be encountered as a nursing student or nurse in a hospital setting.
What are nursing care plans? How do you develop a nursing care plan? What nursing care plan book do you recommend helping you develop a nursing care plan?
This care plan is listed to give an example of how a Nurse (LPN or RN) may plan to treat a patient with those conditions.
Important Disclosure: Please keep in mind that these care plans are listed for Example/Educational purposes only, and some of these treatments may change over time. Do not treat a patient based on this care plan.
Care Plans are often developed in different formats. The formatting isn’t always important, and care plan formatting may vary among different nursing schools or medical jobs. Some hospitals may have the information displayed in digital format, or use pre-made templates. The most important part of the care plan is the content, as that is the foundation on which you will base your care.
Nursing Care Plan for: Bowel Incontinence
If you want to view a video tutorial on how to construct a care plan in nursing school, please view the video below. Otherwise, scroll down to view this completed care plan.
Scenario: |
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A 63 year old male is recovering from a cerebrovascular accident. The patient has started experiencing the inability to control his bowel movements. The patient is alert and oriented times three. For the past three days the patient reports being unable to hold stool in his rectum. He states that “all of the sudden it comes out without my control”. He is embarrassed by this and states he feels helpless. The patient is eager to learn how to manage this issue.
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Nursing Diagnosis: |
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Bowel incontinence related to lack of voluntary sphincter control secondary to cerebrovascular accident as evidence by patient unable to control passage of stool.
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Subjective Data: |
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He states that “all of the sudden it comes out without my control”. He is embarrassed by this and states he feels helpless.
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Objective Data: |
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A 63 year old male is recovering from a cerebrovascular accident. The patient has started experiencing the inability to control his bowel movements. The patient is alert and oriented times three. For the past three days the patient reports being unable to hold stool in his rectum. The patient is eager to learn how to manage this issue.
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Nursing Outcomes: |
| -Patient will participate in a daily bowel program for 5 days or until a bowel pattern develops.-Patient will evacuate a soft, formed stool every other day or every third day.
-Patient will verbalize feelings a self-control with 1 weeks regarding bowel movements. -Patient will verbalize 4 ways on how to keep bowel movements regular by naming what foods to eat and how much fluids to intake. |
Nursing Interventions: |
| -The nurse will encourage and help the patient develop a daily bowel program based on the patients wants and needs.
-The nurse will assess the patients bowel movements and frequencies daily. -The nurse will assess the patients feelings regarding self-control of bowel movements daily. -The nurse will teach the patient 4 ways on how to keep bowel movements regular by listing what types of foods he needs to eat and how much fluids to intake. |