Urinary Retention Complications

Case 1:

It?s 2:00 PM and you are about to finally grab some lunch, but in comes a 72-year-old man with a history of large cell lymphoma for the past 15 years. He complains of dribbling urinary frequency, which has worsened over 1 day after being prescribed an antibiotic by his doctor for a UTI. The nurse asks him to walk to another stretcher, and as he gets up, he stumbles and catches himself with his hands. As you prepare to do the bladder ultrasound, you wonder why he stumbled…

Case 2:

It?s finally 6:30 PM, with just 30 minutes until relief arrives. You are spending the last half hour of your shift tying up the loose ends with your current patients when a 46-year-old febrile woman with a? history of active intravenous drug abuse and HIV comes in. She is in excruciating discomfort and tells you that she has not urinated in 2 days. You wonder if that is possible, and why…

What would you do to manage these patients?

(Leave a comment with your solutions to this month’s cases to be eligible to receive a free copy of the January 2014 issue of Emergency Medicine Practice.? The deadline to enter is January 6th.)

Last Updated on January 26, 2023

One thought on “Urinary Retention Complications

  1. 72 yo needs a larger work-up, but would just place a Foley in place and check basic labs (CBC, Chem-7) and figure out what antibiotic he was on. The elderly gentleman would need a careful neurological exam, and maybe even a head CT. The lady also would get a Foley and basic labs as well.

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