What are the best ways to promote continence on hospital wards?
The most important thing to do is to recognise that incontinence is a symptom and not a disease. Nurses need to establish why each individual has continence problems and then use a problem-solving approach to promote continence. Many problems that cause incontinence are simple, and helping people to become mobile and use the toilet makes a huge difference. If the older person depends on nurses to take them to the toilet then it is vital to respond quickly as older people get less warning than younger people and find it difficult to wait. Nurses can start by learning how to do assessments – continence advisers or link nurses can provide details on education and training. 3. What can be done to prevent falling? Falls can lead to loss of confidence, immobility, fractures and even death. Every year 310,000 older people in the UK sustain a fracture because of falls. Every five hours one older person dies because of a fall. NICE guidance requires nurses working with older people to develop a
