Nursing staff need to be aware of the impact of untreated urinary incontinence on older people. Practitioners should promote continence rather than employing containment strategies. A validated assessment tool for older people needs to be developed. Views of older people should be sought regarding their attitudes towards urinary incontinence.

Recent United Kingdom guidelines have identified the need for integrated continence services within health regions. While there is evidence of improvements in community services there is little evidence that the quality of nursing care offered for older people with urinary incontinence in care settings has improved. This literature review identifies some of the underpinning issues that impact on continence promotion for older people. Despite evidence that older people suffer physical, social and psychological distress as a result of mismanaged urinary incontinence, costs of promoting continence are higher in financial terms than containing incontinence. The extent of the problem is difficult to identify in terms of how many older people are affected by different types of urinary incontinence. Nurses' attitudes are found to affect the quality of continence care delivered, and there continues to be a lack of evidence around sustainable strategies for continence promotion in care settings.

Nursing students preferred this novel teaching method to lectures. They learned about appropriate and relevant care of older people, however, they seem to struggle to apply concepts related to caring for older people in the acute settings.

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