Emergency Cases Northwest Group

A Wee Fall

Situation

An elderly man fell, found to be in urinary retention.

Background

A geriatric patient went for a walk, lost his balance and fell. No injuries, no other symptoms and no urinary symptoms at all. Seen in triage cubicle as no space. Later walked round to a room with a trolley to lay down enabling abdominal exam. This revealed a massive bladder on palpation, draining almost 2 litres on catheterisation.

Assessment

The urinary retention may not have caused his fall but probably did contribute to it.

Recommendation

The abdomen doesn’t have to be examined in every ED patient but it would be wise to do so in certain groups, even if they have no abdominal symptoms: the elderly and unwell children. To examine the abdomen the patient must be laid on a trolley (not in a chair); otherwise pathology will be missed. This will take time to do if there are no beds, the patient has many layers of clothes and then needs help getting onto the bed.



PLEASE DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PATIENT IDENTIFIABLE DATA OR GEO-LOCATION DATA IN THE SUBMISSION OR IN ANY ATTACHED IMAGES

Date 20/02/2023

Source SN1

Review YES

Review YES

Emergency Cases Northwest Group