The Big Picture
Bowel training helps a client develop a regular pattern for bowel movements. The goals are to improve control and prevent problems with passing or controlling stool.
Timing also matters. A client often feels the urge to have a bowel movement after eating, especially after breakfast. The client’s usual routine and helpful factors are included in the care plan.
Look for Nova Scotia CCA Notes throughout this page for current provincial guidance.
Quick tip: Tap, click, or press Enter on any term with a dotted underline and an ⓘ icon to see its plain-English definition.
Start Here If You’re Overwhelmed
Focus on these core ideas:
- Bowel training aims to establish a regular bowel movement pattern.
- The two main goals are bowel control and preventing fecal impaction, constipation, and fecal incontinence.
- The client should be offered the toilet, commode, or bedpan around their usual bowel movement time.
- Helpful factors include high-fibre foods, more fluids, warm fluids, activity, and privacy.
- A rectal suppository may be ordered to stimulate a bowel movement.
- Who inserts a suppository depends on agency policy and provincial or territorial standards.
Jump to:
Course Notes: Key Ideas You Need to Know
What Bowel Training Means
Bowel training is a planned process used to establish a regular pattern of fecal elimination.
Defecation means passing feces from the rectum through the anus. In everyday language, this means having a bowel movement.
Bowel training has two goals:
- Help the client gain control of bowel movements.
- Help prevent fecal impaction, constipation, and fecal incontinence.
These three problems have different meanings:
- Fecal impaction is the prolonged retention and buildup of feces in the rectum.
- Constipation means bowel movements happen less often than usual, with stool that is hard, dry, and difficult to pass.
- Fecal incontinence means the person cannot control the passage of feces and gas through the anus. It is also called anal incontinence.
Timing the Bowel Movement
The urge to have a bowel movement is usually felt after a meal. It often happens after breakfast.
The client’s usual bowel movement time is recorded on the care plan . At that time, the client should be offered:
- the toilet
- a commode
- a bedpan
The goal is to work with the client’s usual elimination pattern.
Factors That Promote Elimination
The care plan and bowel training program include factors that help promote elimination.
- a high-fibre diet
- increased fluids
- warm fluids
- activity
- privacy
Your supervisor will tell you about the client’s bowel training program.
Rectal Suppositories
A designated health care provider may order a rectal suppository to stimulate defecation.
A suppository is a cone-shaped, solid medication placed into a body opening. It dissolves at body temperature.
Rectal suppositories are usually preferred over enemas because they are generally more comfortable for the client.
Who Inserts the Suppository?
Who inserts the suppository depends on agency policy and provincial or territorial standards .
Depending on those requirements:
- a support worker may insert the proper suppository into the rectum
- a nurse may insert it
- in some cases, the client may apply it themselves
- the support worker may assist the client as needed
Nova Scotia CCA Note
Sorrentino’s Canadian Textbook for the Support Worker, 5th Edition gives a broad Canadian explanation of who might insert a rectal suppository. Current Nova Scotia standards give CCAs more specific boundaries for medication assistance.
In Nova Scotia, entry-level medication assistance includes helping a person open a prescribed daily routine medication, completing medication-related subtasks, and applying specified creams, ointments, and drops under the required conditions. Rectal suppository insertion is not specifically listed in that entry-level medication-assistance description. When a medication is not a prescribed daily routine medication, the standards say the required practice context and conditions must be met, or a delegated task process may apply. Employers also define what a CCA is permitted to do within that workplace. (novascotiacca.ca)
Why this matters in Nova Scotia: A CCA should not assume that inserting a rectal suppository is part of routine entry-level CCA practice. The task must fit the employer’s approved scope and the Nova Scotia requirements that apply to the situation.
Official source: Continuing Care Assistant Occupational Standards of Practice
Last checked: September 23, 2026
How Long a Suppository Takes to Work
A suppository needs time to dissolve and work in the body.
A bowel movement typically occurs after about 30 minutes.
Exam Clue Words
- Usually: The urge to have a bowel movement is usually felt after a meal.
- Often: Breakfast is a common time for the urge to occur, but the wording does not say it happens only after breakfast.
- Should: The toilet, commode, or bedpan should be offered at the client’s usual bowel movement time.
- May: A designated health care provider may order a rectal suppository.
- Depending: Who inserts the suppository depends on agency policy and provincial or territorial standards.
Fast Review
Keep these points in mind during a quick review:
- Bowel training establishes a regular fecal elimination pattern.
- Its goals are bowel control and prevention of fecal impaction, constipation, and fecal incontinence.
- The urge to have a bowel movement usually happens after eating and often after breakfast.
- The client’s usual bowel movement time is recorded on the care plan.
- The toilet, commode, or bedpan should be offered at the client’s usual bowel movement time.
- High-fibre foods, increased fluids, warm fluids, activity, and privacy promote elimination.
- A rectal suppository may be ordered to stimulate defecation.
- Who inserts a suppository depends on agency policy and provincial or territorial standards.
- In some situations, the client applies the suppository and the support worker assists as needed.
- A bowel movement typically occurs about 30 minutes after the suppository is given time to dissolve and work.
Final Pep Talk
There are several terms and role details in this topic, so focus on the pattern first. Review the two bowel-training goals, the factors that promote elimination, and the rules around suppositories one piece at a time.