Managing urinary incontinence after stroke

Abstract

Urinary incontinence affects 40–60% of people following stroke and can cause distress for patients and their families, affecting quality of life, skin integrity and carer burden. There is evidence that professional input through structured assessment and management of care, together with the involvement of specialist continence nursing services, may reduce urinary incontinence and related symptoms after stroke. This paper discusses the normal physiology of micturition, the effect of stroke on bladder control, and assessment and management of urinary incontinence following stroke.

Prevention and Treatment of Incontinence-Associated Dermatitis (IAD): Contributes of Nursing Intervention

“…Chemically, skin contact with products of vesical and intestinal elimination gives rise to an increase in pH relative to physiological values, which reduces its ability to act as a barrier against the proliferation of microorganisms [6,7]. Prolonged exposure to a constantly moist environment, locally causes a skin maceration that when evolving to epidermal erosion, makes the skin more vulnerable to the harmful effect of pressure, increased susceptibility to the development of pressure ulcers for Staphylococcus infectionand may progress to cellulitis and necrotizing fasciitis [8].…”