General Nursing©

Urinary Tract Infections

Cystitis and urethritis, the two forms of urinary tract infection (UTI), are nearly 10 times more common in women than men and affect approximately 10% to 20% of all women at least once. It is also prevalent in children, particularly girls. Appropriate antimicrobials are the treatment of choice for most initial lower UTIs.

Nurses teach female patient how to clean the perineum and keep the labia separated while collecting a midstream specimen. A warm sitz baths for relief of perineal discomfort should be performed. If ineffective, apply heat sparingly to the perineum. Gastrointestinal disturbances from antimicrobial therapy should be watched. And if therapy includes phenazopyridine, the patient should be warned that this drug may turn urine red orange.

Bladder Infection:

Bacteria invading the urinary bladder of a person cause inflammation of its inner lining resulting in bladder infection, known as cystitis. Due to the woman's anatomy (female urethra is short), she is more prone to cystitis because bacteria can easily reach the bladder.

If bacteria breed and multiply in the bladder, they cause irritation, inflammation, and painful, frequent, and even bloody urination. The bacteria first have to get there, and this happens most frequently in females because the urethra is short and the bladder not far from the outside. Bacteria usually enter through the urethra. For bacteria to breed, they must be able to multiply more rapidly than they are flushed out of the bladder during urination.

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