Assessment of bladder volume by nurses using point-of-care ultrasound: a cross-sectional study.
Tatiana Fuzaro, Dejanira Aparecida Regagnin, Thales Henrique Vieira Brandão and 3 others
PMID 40679139WHAT IT FOUND
Nurses' bedside bladder ultrasound estimates closely followed the urine drained by catheter, especially when volumes were high.
This pattern was similar in ICU, semi-intensive, and medical-surgical units.
Key findings
01The overall correlation between nurse ultrasound bladder volume and later catheter-drained urine volume was r = 0.958, p < 0.001.
02For ultrasound bladder volumes above 500 ml, the correlation with catheter-drained urine volume was r = 0.922, p < 0.001.
03The correlation was r = 0.959, p < 0.001 in the medical-surgical unit; r = 0.985, p < 0.001 in the semi-intensive unit; and r = 0.940, p < 0.001 in the ICU.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a retrospective convenience study from one hospital, so it may not generalize to other settings. The analysis included only patients who had catheter drainage after ultrasound, so it cannot tell how well ultrasound estimates volume in patients who were not catheterized. Of 395 eligible patients, 99 had incomplete records and 25 refused, so the analyzed sample may not represent all eligible patients. Nurses in this study had more than six months of bladder ultrasound experience, so it may not show how newly trained nurses would perform. The study measured correlation with drained volume, not whether the ultrasound estimate was exactly right, and did not test whether using ultrasound changed catheterization decisions or patient outcomes.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that bladder ultrasound by nurses reduces urinary tract infections, hospital stay, or unnecessary catheterization. The study measured how well nurse ultrasound estimates correlated with catheter-drained urine in patients who already had catheter drainage, and it did not test patient outcomes.