[Use of a micturition-monitoring device in elderly inpatients]

Can an individualized and comprehensive care strategy improve urinary incontinence (UI) among nursing home residents?

Urinary incontinence (UI) is one of the most common and distressing conditions among nursing home residents. Although scheduled care is usually provided for them, incontinence care should be individualized regarding going to the toilet, changing diapers, and taking food and water. We have developed an individualized and comprehensive care strategy to address the problem. We conducted an intervention study that involved training chiefs of staffs, who in turn trained other staffs, and encouraging residents. A total of 153 elderly subjects selected from 1290 residents in 17 nursing homes were eligible to receive our individualized and comprehensive care. The goals of the care strategy were (i) to complete meal intake; (ii) to take fluids up to 1500 ml/day; (iii) to urinate in a toilet; (iv) to spend over 6h out of bed; and (v) to reduce time spent in wet diapers. We explained the aims of our strategy to the chiefs of staff of each nursing home and instructed them to encourage residents to take an active part in our individualized and comprehensive care strategy for 12 weeks. For 3 days before and after that period, we assessed the changes in fluid volume intake, time spent in wet diapers, size of diaper pads, and urination habits. The result was that fluid volume intake significantly increased (p<0.001) while time spent in wet diapers decreased (p<0.001). The number of residents wearing diapers decreased as did the size of pads during the day (p=0.0017). The proportion of residents using diapers at night was reduced and those using toilets at night increased (p=0.007). This study suggests that such an individualized and comprehensive care strategy can offer a measurable improvement in UI care.

[Do the incontinent patients improve their equality of life using a humidity detector device?]

BACKGROUND

To evaluate the effect of a humidity detector device on the quality of life of patients with urinary incontinence IU.

METHOD

Quasi-experimental study: a series of ten cases followed for a month. The devices were placed and the questionnaires filled in before and after using it for at least ten hours a day during a month. Health related quality of life was assessed through the questionnaires for IU convalidated and adapted to our specific environment: Urogenital Inventory Distress (UDI) and Incontinence Impact Questionary (IIQ). An improvement of 58 points by a four option Likert scale was considered a positive impact in the quality of life (IIQ). The scores obtained in UDI and IIQ are described before and after use the device and paried T test and Wilcoxon sign test were carried out to compare the scores obtained in each instance. The capacity to detect a difference of 58 points on the UDI scale was calculated (minimum relevant difference). A binomial test was undertaken to ascertain a probability of achieving an increase in the above mentioned index which would exceed the clinical relevance threshold.

RESULTS

Average increase in IIQ improvement: x = 5.48 (Std Error = 20.43) 95% CI = -34.56 to 45.56. Average increase in UDI improvement: x = -11.87 (Std Error = 20.70) 95% IC = -52.45 to 28.70. The power of the analysis to detect as relevant a difference of a 588 point increase in IIQ 71.1% and probability of obtaining a relevant improvement in the questionnaire IIQ 10% (IC 95%) 0% to 39.4%.

CONCLUSIONS

A negative impact in the Quality of Life due to frequent changes of incontinence pads.