It is done to rule out the presence or absence of ova or intestinal parasite. The doctor may order and say O & P x 3 days. This means 3 consecutive bowel movements in 3 consecutive days. Keep the sample warm and urine free (NCLEX question). You can refrigerate if you can’t run to the lab right away.
If the patient does not go to the bath room everyday how would you check for the stool? If he goes every other day like M W F, then collect the sample M W F. If patient only have bowel 2 x a week M TH then, collect on Monday and Thursday.
Tell the patient if he is waiting for the stool collection to check for parasite, if she is on antibiotic therapy (ABT), that she needs to stop it 7-10 days before starting the stool collection. Antibiotic does not kill the parasite but what happens the parasites gets into hiding.
Tell patient that if he is taking mineral oil or peptobismol, not to take it and don’t schedule for barium enema before collecting stool for Ova and Parasite.

The patient drinks barium under fluoroscopy. The patient should be in a special procedure room. He will be observed as the barium goes down. The purpose of his is to determine any problems or abnormalities in the stomach and also to observe the emptying time of the stomach, and to check for ulceration.
Our nursing responsibilities:
*Put the patient on NPO after midnight because we want the stomach to be empty when the patient swallows the barium. We want to look the full outside of the gastric cavity or the contour. If food is present see the contour.
*Tell the patient that she will drink a barium solution
*Tell the patient that the first time she will go to the bathroom after the procedure, you want to see it, or tell him not to flush the toilet let the nurse see it first to see the color of the stool. If the patient does flush the toilet, what you should do is ask him what the color of the stool was. If the color is white- it is good. It means the patient is flushing the solution out.
*If the patient does not pass out the barium and it stays within him, the barium turns to rock solid stone in the intestines.