Concept Map #4 – Concept: Elimination
DEFINITION
Broadly speaking, the term elimination refers to the removal, clearance, or separation of matter. From a human physiologic perspective, the term elimination is defined as the excretion of waste products.1 The human body eliminates various forms of waste through the skin, kidneys, lungs, and intestines. This concept presentation focuses on elimination of waste from the urinary system and the gastrointestinal system. For the purposes of this concept presentation, bowel elimination is defined as the process of expelling stool (also referred to as feces). Terms used to describe the process of bowel elimination include defecation, defecate, or bowel movement. Urinary elimination is defined as the process of expelling urine. Terms used to describe this process include micturition or urination. The term continence refers to the purposeful control of urinary or fecal elimination.
Impaired elimination refers to one or more problems associated with the elimination process. There are many terms associated with impaired urinary elimination including anuria (absence of urine), dysuria (painful urination), polyuria (multiple episodes of urination, as with diabetes), urinary frequency (multiple episodes of urination with little urine produced in a short period of time), and urinary hesitancy (the urge to urinate exists, but the person has difficulty starting the urine stream).
Saunders Book:
https://online.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9780323812085/epubcfi/6/58%5B%3Bvnd.vst.idref%3DCH0015_164-175_B9780323809825000151%5D!/4/4%5BCH0015%5D/6/22/8/6/8/2%5Bb0010%5D/10/8/2%5Bulist0020%5D/8%5Bbpar0110%5D/3:21%5Btit%2Cis%5D
