Abstract
The purpose of this study was to set clear criteria for nurses to classify and judge defecation states, and create a flow chart for classification of defecation states in a clinical setting. These researchers re-examined the indexes used to classify the defecation patterns described in previous research (Kato et al., 2012). In that study, the greatest priority was placed on the form of the stool, followed by the frequency of bowel movements, the size of the stool and finally subjective and objective measures of bloating in the abdomen. Groups of reference values were thus set from the previous study to create a flow chart consisting of 5 questions： “Do at least one in two of the patient’s bowel stools have no shape?” (form)； “Are at least one in fourof the patient’s stools hard?” (form)； “Do bowel movements occur 4 or more times per week?” (frequency)；are one in five stools as large as the area of the thumb from the first knuckle to the tip?” (size) and “Is there any bloating (feeling of fullness) ?” (subjective/objective measure of bloating). The flow chart classifies stools into six defecation patterns：Normal Class I, Normal Class II, Constipation Class I, Constipation Class II, Constipation Class III and Diarrhea Class.
