Continence Management

Continence Management (1/2 Day) Introduction This course provides the knowledge and skills required to enable health and social care staff to be aware of the problems of incontinence and be able to work with this condition in a way which minimises the individuals’ distress. Learning Points:

Explain the factors which may cause an individual to be incontinent following a stroke Describe how incontinence following stroke may affect an individual’s well being Outline methods which may be used to identify incontinence problems following stroke Identify strategies to assist an individual experiencing incontinence problems following stroke

Knowledge
Stroke often causes individuals to be incontinent of urine and or faeces. Incontinence may cause individuals to refuse to drink or eat. It may affect their mood and it increases the risk of pressure sores. There are many factors which contribute to incontinence - addressing these can help the problem. Skills
To be aware of the problem, and to be able to deal with it in a sensitive manner which minimises the individual’s distress. · Benefits to the individual · Background Incontinence can affect the bladder (urinary incontinence) and / or the bowels (faecal incontinence). Incontinence after stroke can be caused by many factors including:

Physiologically (related to the area of the brain affected by the stroke) Functional (related to the resulting disability) Reduced cognitive levels (disorders of the thinking process) Other factors

Physiology Areas of the brain involved in continence Functional factors Cognitive factors Other Factors Effects of Incontinence What to look out for Finding the cause of incontinence To catheterise or not Written paper/course evaluation