ECHO

Exploring Continence care in Hospital for Older adults

Summary

The aim of this study is to drive improvements in patient outcomes associated with bladder and bowel difficulties among adults older than 65 years in hospital. Incontinence is usually poorly identified by healthcare staff and symptoms are difficult for patients to volunteer due to embarrassment. Guidance exists which suggests symptoms should be asked about as early as possible, and strategies started that can provide help. This can make significant improvements to individual daily lives, particularly for older adults where more complex intervention may be inappropriate. Guidance is often not implemented in the hospital setting but it is unclear why. There is scope to improve this important aspect of patient care if we fully understand the challenges and obstacles.

This study will address the research question: What helps and hinders good continence care for older adults in the hospital setting?

The specific research questions are:

• What are the obstacles and challenges to providing good continence care for older adults (65+ years) in the hospital setting?
• What do nurses, doctors, healthcare support workers and other members of the care team, such as physiotherapists, believe needs to happen to improve care in this area.

Every hospital admission is an opportunity to identify, treat and prevent deterioration of continence problems for older adults. This study will explore how to help healthcare staff maximise these opportunities and devise an intervention to address this that will be the subject of a follow-on grant application.