Nurses' Best Practices in the Management of Fecal Incontinence in the Hospital Context: An Integrative Review

Abstract

Objective to analyze, in the literature, the nurses' best practices towards management of Fecal Incontinence in the hospital context. Method this is an integrative literature review with a search carried out in September 2021 in the MEDLINE/PubMed and Web of Science, as well as in the Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde database, which included the Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde, Base de Dados de Enfermagem and Índice Bibliográfico Español en Ciencias de la Salud databases. The analysis considered the descriptive methods and elaboration of a textual corpus in the Interface de R pour les Analyses Multidimensionnelles de Textes et de Questionnaires software program. Results a total of 11 studies were included (and their analysis allowed evidencing prevalence of the English language) published between 1977 and 2021 and which presented, in a greater proportion, an observational methodological design with level of evidence 2C. The results were grouped into two categories: “Care evidence for the management of Fecal Incontinence”, with greater predominance of the use of fecal drainage systems; and “Support devices and prevention of complications”, presenting, in a greater proportion, the containment devices. Conclusion it was identified that the best practices adopted by nurses in the hospital context are associated with the use of drainage systems and fecal content containment devices. A limitation was evidenced in the nursing team regarding use of other beneficial practices for patients with Fecal Incontinence.