Can an individualized and comprehensive care strategy improve urinary incontinence (UI) among nursing home residents?

Urinary incontinence (UI) is one of the most common and distressing conditions among nursing home residents. Although scheduled care is usually provided for them, incontinence care should be individualized regarding going to the toilet, changing diapers, and taking food and water. We have developed an individualized and comprehensive care strategy to address the problem. We conducted an intervention study that involved training chiefs of staffs, who in turn trained other staffs, and encouraging residents. A total of 153 elderly subjects selected from 1290 residents in 17 nursing homes were eligible to receive our individualized and comprehensive care. The goals of the care strategy were (i) to complete meal intake; (ii) to take fluids up to 1500 ml/day; (iii) to urinate in a toilet; (iv) to spend over 6 h out of bed; and (v) to reduce time spent in wet diapers. We explained the aims of our strategy to the chiefs of staff of each nursing home and instructed them to encourage residents to take an active part in our individualized and comprehensive care strategy for 12 weeks. For 3 days before and after that period, we assessed the changes in fluid volume intake, time spent in wet diapers, size of diaper pads, and urination habits. The result was that fluid volume intake significantly increased (p < 0.001) while time spent in wet diapers decreased (p < 0.001). The number of residents wearing diapers decreased as did the size of pads during the day (p = 0.0017). The proportion of residents using diapers at night was reduced and those using toilets at night increased (p = 0.007). This study suggests that such an individualized and comprehensive care strategy can offer a measurable improvement in UI care.