Urinary incontinence: a classification system and treatment protocols for the primary care provider

PURPOSE: To provide nurse practitioners (NPs) with an objective system for classification of urinary incontinence and protocols for treating the condition in the primary care setting. DATA SOURCE: Clinical practice guidelines and the author's clinical experience. CONCLUSIONS: By using tables of classifications of urinary incontinence, management strategies, and protocols, NPs can successfully manage mild urinary incontinence in primary care settings in a cost-effective manner. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: A thorough history and objective classification of the severity of incontinence provides the framework for treating urinary incontinence in a methodical and effective manner.     

Urinary incontinence: pharmacotherapy options

The impact of incontinence is felt by millions of people worldwide, with tremendous decrement in quality of life and enormous cost reaching billions of dollars. Urinary incontinence is defined as 'involuntary leakage of urine' and is categorized into two main types: urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Behavioral modifications and pharmacologic therapies, primarily antimuscarinic agents, are the mainstay of treatment for UUI. These drugs are moderately efficacious but have troublesome side-effects, the combination resulting in poor compliance and persistence with therapy. There are several agents on the market today, each with some variation in pharmacologic properties. Whether these translate into meaningful differences in clinical efficacy and tolerability remains a matter of debate. Treatment of SUI has seen little success with pharmacologic therapy. In Europe, duloxetine is approved for treatment of SUI with marginal success rates; this drug, although available in the United States for treatment of depression, is not approved for SUI. The search for newer and better pharmacologic options and novel therapies is on-going, fueled primarily by the high prevalence of bothersome incontinence and the tremendous number of health care dollars spent on current therapy. This review addresses pharmacologic options for treatment of urinary incontinence.     

Urinary incontinence and newly invented pad technique: patients', close relatives' and nursing staff's experiences and beliefs

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a major public health issue and considered to be undertreated, costly and often lead to suffering for patients. Close relatives involved in caring for sufferers describe UI as a complicated problem. For older patients, close relatives and staff, it is important with high absorption UI pads in order to have an undisturbed nightly rest and to prevent bedsores. The aim was twofold: to understand older persons', close relatives' and nursing staff's views and experiences of UI, and their experience of using a particular UI pad system with an alarm. A qualitative design with individual and focus‐group interviews was used to describe 6 patients', 14 close relatives' and 22 staff's experience of UI. These were analysed by using qualitative manifest analysis. The findings were divided into four categories. The patients expressed that they, due to UI, regarded themselves as burdens to others. The patients, the relatives and some staff experienced UI as a natural consequence of ageing. The UI pad system appeared to be a functional incontinence aid during the night, but more research is needed to develop the product and to find new fields of applications. From all perspectives, it appears that nursing cannot be replaced by technology, though the UI pad system can be a very useful complement in UI nursing care. Complementary use of the UI pad system might lead to a more economically effective and safe use of the existing nursing resources.     

Urinary incontinence in a vulnerable population: older women

Urinary incontinence creates a tremendous hardship on older women and results in social isolation, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and decreased life satisfaction. Stress, urge, overflow, and functional incontinence can be treated by behavioral methods, medications, or invasive techniques. The nurse should complete a health history before making an informed decision with the older women about the most appropriate treatment plan. There can be improved quality of life for women with incontinence if health care providers focus on this problem.     

Urinary incontinence: selected current concepts

UI is highly prevalent in older adults and associated with excess comorbidity and increased mortality. Intensive screening and comprehensive clinical examination of all elders enables prompt detection, accurate classification, and appropriate treatment. OAB is the most common cause of persistent incontinence in the older adult. As with other types of UI, behavior modification is first-line treatment of OAB. Although antimuscarinic agents have been shown to be highly effective in the treatment of OAB, limited data are available regarding the safety and tolerability of these agents in older adults. Patients who fail to respond to noninvasive treatment or those in whom surgery may be appropriate should be referred to the urologist for evaluation and further management.     

Urinary incontinence strategies for frail elderly women

Among the majority of frail older women, urinary incontinence has not been adequately assessed or treated, with resultant negative impact on quality of life. An assessment and intervention model based on type of incontinence, evidence-based interventions, and the influence of patient preference and capacity to carry out interventions are described.     

Urinary incontinence: why women do not ask for help

During the past decade, many medical conditions previously thought to be unmentionable are now being talked about more openly. Breast cancer, for example, has had a great deal of media attention, particularly when women in the public eye reveal that they have been diagnosed with it. This publicity helps to increase awareness of the condition. In comparison with breast cancer, the common female problem of urinary incontinence receives scant attention in the media, yet it has been estimated that there may be 4,000,000 women in the UK suffering from urinary incontinence at one time (Hunskaar et al, 2004).     

A multicentre comparative evaluation: washable pants with an integral pad for light incontinence

The Continence Product Evaluation Network (CPE network) is funded by the Medical Devices Agency (MDA) of the Department of Health, to undertake comparative evaluations of continence products. There are a wide variety of continence products on the UK market and very little information is available to aid product selection. The aim of this study was to evaluate washable pants with integral pads for women with light incontinence. A randomized multiple cross-over design was used. Seventy-two women tested each of the 10 products that were available on the UK market at the time of the evaluation. Both subjective and objective outcome measures were used to evaluate the products. Products performed similarly in terms of leakage but there were statistically significant differences in other performance aspects, e.g. fit and discreteness. This study should be valuable in enabling purchasers, carers and users to make informed decisions when purchasing products.     

Urinary incontinence in vulnerable populations: female soldiers

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is prevalent in women of all ages. Due to the rigorous demands of military life, physical fitness requirements, and environmental barriers, female soldiers are at risk for SUI. Since it is estimated that 20% of the total U.S. military active-duty force in the future will be women, it is important to focus on this problem now.