Hunter Ellis, a 76-year-old African American male, is a resident in a long-term care facility. He has been unable to control the
urge to void since experiencing a stroke 1 month ago. He is alert and oriented and has no verbal deficits since his stroke. Physiologic Integrity1. Mr. Ellis states that prior to his stroke, he would get up five or six times during the night to empty his bladder but that he was able to control the urge long enough to make it to the bathroom. How should the nurse describe the urinary pattern that Mr. Ellis is describing?A. DysuriaB. FrequencyC. NocturiaD. Diureses
Nocturia is a condition characterized by frequent urination at night. Usually a person can sleep for 6-8 hours without the need to urinate. However, a person with nocturia will often wake up many times in night to urinate. Since Mr. Hunter got up five to six times at night to urinate he had nocturia.
Nocturia can be caused by several factors like bladder obstruction, bladder over activity, excessive fluid intake etc. It is a common occurrence in old people because with age the bladder muscles become weak and urine output is also increased due to intake of some kind of drugs.
