Nursing points for vaginal douching during radiotherapy for cervical cancer patients

Patients with cervical cancer need radiotherapy to completely remove residual cancer lesions. If the vagina is not washed in time before intracavitary irradiation, it is easy to cause infection. Therefore, correct vaginal washing plays an important role in the effect of cervical cancer radiotherapy. The following aspects should be paid attention to during the operation.

1. Eliminate tension and fear

Before the operation, the patient should understand the necessity of vaginal flushing before treatment, adjust the nervous and anxious mood, and relax the body and mind, which is conducive to the smooth operation of medical staff.

2. Maintain correct posture

The operating room is equipped with a screen to block the view. Patients can rest assured. They only need to take the lithotomy position after urinating and avoid excessive exposure to avoid catching a cold. When it is cold, medical staff should give patients a small quilt to cover their abdomen and lower limbs to prevent them from catching a cold.

3. Choose the right speculum

Choose a suitable speculum according to the patient's condition, connect the flushing head, flush the vulva and speculum first, then gently insert the speculum into the vagina, open the vagina and slowly flush the front, back, left and right fornixes and vaginal folds, and then flush the cervix. Avoid flushing with a water column perpendicular to the cervical opening to prevent the flushing fluid from entering the uterine cavity and causing uterine cavity pus. After flushing, use a dry cotton ball to dry the vagina, fornix and vulva.

4. Be gentle

During the flushing process, the patient should not move or change his/her position arbitrarily to avoid affecting the normal cleaning. At the same time, the operator should flush gently to avoid excessive force causing pain or breaking the cancerous tissue and causing bleeding. If bleeding occurs, gauze should be inserted in time to compress and stop the bleeding.