Hospital enemas on whose orders?

At age 4/5 I was in St Joe's Hospital in Billings MT with polio. An eleven week stay in 1950. After a brief stay in isolation I was put in a children's ward with maybe six to eight beds. Long story short, I was the only one that got an enema every other day. I saw the enema trolly occasionally pushed to another kid's bed, but not often. The regular nurses gave enemas the same way. One day an older nurse (sub?) was on duty and used a colon tube. Just a different experience. Twice, my bed was wheeled to the middle of the ward and different young nurses (trainees?) surrounded my bed. At the foot of the bed was an older nurse with the trolly and enema can. While she administered my enema, I was being encouraged by the young nurses to “breath through your mouth” “pant like a puppy” and “just a little more”. Now, after all these years, I wonder who ordered all those enemas? I suspect a doctor, as Mom continued frequent enemas for as long as I was bedridden, about a year. I was a very compliant enema taker. Is that why I was chosen to demonstrate enema procedures to new nurses, and was the demonstration for a regular pediatric enema or a 3H enema. I never had to have encouragement during my regular enemas. Can anyone clue me in?

That is some experience… hope you are okay now!! I can remember that fear of getting polio every summer like it was tomorrow as well as remembering waiting in the school yard for my first polio vaccination.

I was in Hospital several times as a child and teen and the nurses would usually tell me “Doctor has ordered an enema for you”. The nurses would then come to my bedside with a trolley and enema gear and tell me to lay on my side and they would part my Hospital gown at the back and give the enema.

I had cleansing enemas prior to a v BBC around enema in my youth and assume that was SOP from the doctor.

I just got out of the hospital and was constipated for three days after surgery. They gave me a suppository, Miralax, and a stool softener which finally worked but I would just preferred an enema.

When my tonsils were removed at about age six, I, and everyone else in the ward scheduled for a procedure the next day were given enemas. It was a Catholic hospital and the enemas were given by nursing nuns. I assume it was standard operating procedure rather than specific doctor's orders. Everyone I have spoken to from my generation about having tonsils out has almost the same story regarding pre-op enemas.

White enamel cans, red tubing, and black nozzles. Both boys and girls were on the ward and the curtains were only drawn around the bed sides, leaving the foot facing the aisle wide open.

Before leaving the hospital for the night and to the ministrations of the nuns, my mother told me to be good for the sisters, do what they tell me and i would get ice cream the next day. Harrumph! It was only a small dish of sherbet!

When I had my tonsils removed I was about 5 years old. It was about 1951. I do not know who ordered the enema, but a nurse gave me my enema the night before my operation. She used an enema can.

I haven’t, but my wife was in the hospital for minor surgery and the nurse showed up with an enema…Dr’s orders. It was one of the green and clear bags with the milky white soap. She filled it to the absolute max volume. My wife, who hates enemas, was NOT pleased, but I certainly enjoyed the show.

Most of the stories told here about hospital enemas in the 50's are true. I was in a children's ward consisting of 8 occupied beds of both girls and boys ages 5 to 9. There were no dividers, no curtains, no privacy. It was a brightly lit room with large pane windows open directly to the hospital corridor for all to see. Two teams of nurses- 3 nurses to a team- administered the enemas going from bed to bed. One nurse managed the enema-stand and would add a green liquid soap that she squeezed out of a squeeze bottle; the lead nurse managed the hose, clamp and nozzle; and the third nurse held-down our legs firmly to the mattress as we lay on our tummies with our bare bottoms exposed to all during our enemas. There was much complaining, whining and crying. We were told to “pant….pant like a puppy” over and over. I believe many of us have been compelled to come to this website driven by the imprinting of these memories….. michael https://en.zity.biz/gallery/image/16551

I was in the hospital for 6 days after an appendectomy at age 16. My appendix had burst and I was loaded with antibiotics.

Food had been withheld and I was on liquids and eventually a soft diet. The nurses indicated I had to have a BM before I could eat a regular meal or be discharged.

My mom carried on about my extended stay and kept insisting they just give me an enema. Finally, the doctor ordered an enema and I was discharged later in the day.

I got more enemas at home. I wasn't sure if the enemas had been ordered by my mom or the doctor. The nurse who gave me the enema was the actor in many subsequent wet dreams.

In the past, the doctor who ordered the enemas, but in today's hierarchy I imagine it can also be a nurse practitioner or a physicians assistant.

It's the nurse's role to carry out orders, whether they be for an enema or other treatments, but when I was receiving home nursing after being hospitalized, my doctor gave the nurse discretion on when she would give the enema(s). I learned the initials PRN, which allowed Angie to use her judgment when to give enemas "as needed," which she did because my insides were terribly blocked up at the time.

@wkobit There were no dividers, no curtains, no privacy. It was a brightly lit room with large pane windows open directly to the hospital corridor for all to see. Two teams of nurses- 3 nurses to a team- administered the enemas going from bed to bed. One nurse managed the enema-stand and would add a green liquid soap that she squeezed out of a squeeze bottle; the lead nurse managed the hose, clamp and nozzle; and the third nurse held-down our legs firmly to the mattress as we lay on our tummies with our bare bottoms exposed to all during our enemas.

Wow amazing experience and great picture!

@Vicki_V

I've been in hospital a number of times in recent years and detect the customary daily doses of Colage, so am well familiar with the issue.

Simply put, a doctor has to order all large volume enemas. Period. Sometimes, nurses are allowed to order Fleet Enemas or Dulcolax suppositories, if a patient hasn't pood in a while but I'm not sure about this. I really don't want to be given either.

If you want bag enemas to help you poo, talk with the doctor responsible for your care. Tell them in no uncertain terms you don't want laxatives, stool softeners, or Fleets. Insist on large volume, warm water enemas as needed. They then should add warm water enemas PRN to your chart. Once it's on the orders, you simply ask the nurse, and you'll get the enema.

When I've been in hospital, confined to bed and required to poo in a bedpan, I always go the enema route. Yes, expelling a large volume enema in a bedpan can be messy, but a bagfull of warm water makes having a full and complete poo on a bedpan certain.

I think it has to be a doctor's orders or possibly a nurse practioner. Any nurse would have to clear it with the doctor even if the patient asked. They call the doctors at least every day, so it would get approved if you asked for it in most instances.

Usually it was the doctor but in our small community hospital I recall that a Registered Nurse could make that call as to enema administration when she made the ‘ rounds ‘ if the patient indicated a constipation issue or , more obviously , when surgery was pending . This was in the 1950’s .

When I had home nursing in 1984 after being in the hospital, Angie was an RN, but she still contacted my doctor who approved orders to give me enemas PRN. I was taking pain medication and not paying much attention to the side effects until my insides got so backed up and I was seriously constipated and embarrassed.

The first enema she gave me was extremely crampy and I told her that I didn't want another one. She nicely persisted and over the next few days, enemas and several other measures got my system working again. What I remember most during that time was that I actually grew to like getting the enemas and wasn't as embarrassed.

Bob1952

Pardon my ignorance, but what is a v BBC?

Many years ago the question: “Soapsuds enema" was on the order sets upon admission to the hospital and the doc would simply check the YES or NO box next to it. Also, many hospital units have standing ”bowel protocols" which prescribe specific procedures for bowel interventions, i.e. Milk of Magnesia, then suppository and then enema. Today it is mostly a Fleets world out there and I have not worked on a hospital floor in many years, so really have no idea what is going on today, but do know the soapsuds enema is now a seldom used procedure in the hospitals.

Doctors can authorize protocols on a patient by patient basis that give the nurses leeway to make care decisions. But they won’t go outside those protocols without Doctor permission.

Enemas are really a last resort now and have to be cleared by a doctor. They can leave orders but everything goes through them for medication.