| Description |
Preparation of patient for a barium enema or an intravenous pyelogram includes administration of enemas until no fecal material return with the enema solution. Multiple enemas may result in undesirable side effects for the patient such as discomfort and exhaustion, irritation of mucosa, reduction of the response of the colon to stimulation, and production of an imbalance of body electrolytes. Twenty patients from five nursing units were alternately place into a control and an experimental group. The patients in the control group were given soapsuds enemas until the solution returned clear in preparation for either a barium enema or an intravenous pyelogram. The patients in the experimental group received one three-maneuver soapsuds enema in preparation for a radiology study of the colon or pelvis of the kidney. Thirty-eight nursing personnel from these five nursing units were oriented to the research either in small groups or individually. The quality of the x-ray was one criterion for testing the effectiveness of the enemas. A radiologist, without knowledge of which patients received the experimental enema, read the x-rays, and indicated whether the bowel was clear of feces, contained some fecal material, or had to much fecal matter for a diagnosis to be made. The second criterion was the difference in the time required to administer the experimental enema as compared to that required to administer enemas until clear. The experiment demonstrated that the three-maneuver enema represented a highly significant saving in time over enemas until clear (beyond the .01 level of significance). No significant difference in the number of acceptable colon preparations between the two groups was demonstrated thus indicating that the three-maneuver enema was as effective as enemas until clear. |
