A new way of monitoring and nursing patients with melaena

Abstract

Haematemesis and melaena is a relatively common event accounting for 47,000 hospital admissions each year in the UK. 1 Often, the passage of melaena is associated with incontinence, making it hard to quantify. We have used a 3-way catheter inserted into the rectum with the balloon inflated with 40 ml of water as a collecting system.