Implementation of the Victoria Bowel Performance Scale

The Victoria BPS was found to be an acceptable and a useful bowel function assessment tool, uniquely incorporating the patient's usual bowel function. Modifications to the scale have been made to improve clarity and allow for the expected drop in bowel activity seen in end-of-life care. Considerable educational effort and appropriate organization of the charts are required for optimal implementation. The proportion of revised BPS scores ranging from −1 to +1 is proposed as an indicator of satisfactory bowel management for clinical, audit, and research purposes.