Resources

Urinary catheter blockage is a common complication of long-term catheterisation that frequently affects outcomes and quality of life for catheter users. Having an indwelling catheter that is prone to blocking can be extremely distressing for the user and lead to additional complications of pain, retention, infection and potentially life-threatening urosepsis. Management of catheter blockage significantly impacts care provision by community-based nursing teams, resulting in the ‘frequent blockers’ requiring unplanned or out-of-hours care for catheter maintenance solutions, catheter changes or emergency hospital visits. 

KEY WORDS:
● Indwelling catheters ● Blockages ● Open-ended catheters ● Service development project

With over a quarter of children who start reception not being toilet trained, June Rogers looks at the reasons for this delay and suggests how parents could be supported to toilet train their children. 

Tracy Hinchliffe, Assistant Professor, Adult Nursing, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne

Impostor phenomenon is widely recognised across many professions. Tracy Hinchliffe looks at what is it, and how those in specialist nursing roles can overcome these feelings. 

A new recommendation from NICE states that durvalumab can be used as an option with gemcitabine and cisplatin for treatment before surgery, and then alone after surgery, of resectable muscle-invasive bladder cancer in adults.  

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published new guidance on kidney cancer: diagnosis and management, covering the diagnosis and management of renal cell carcinoma in people aged 18 and over.

Updated guidelines on bowel care from the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) promote a positive and proactive approach to care delivery for the essential and fundamental needs of bowel function and management of bowel disorders. 

Containment products are prescribed by many NHS services. They are a vital part of both emergency and long-term management of bladder and bowel dysfunctions for many patients. Myra Robson and Sue Bryant discuss some of the guidelines and research underpinning this area of care alongside their experience of transforming the service in one NHS Trust.

Myra Robson, Clinical Lead, Bladder, bowel and pelvic health team
Sue Bryant, Product Lead, Bladder, bowel and pelvic health team
Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust, London

Key words: continence pads; containment products; incontinence

Dr Bharti Tailor and colleagues report the results of a small pilot study that evaluated the efficacy of a group-based structured yoga therapy intervention on symptoms of urinary incontinence for women aged 40–70 years.

Helen Lake describes and reflects on the first year of a nurse-led, public-facing urinary tract infection (UTI) information service and considers its relevance for nursing practice.
 
Helen Lake is Urology Specialist Nurse and UTI Information Nurse, The Urology Foundation
 

For many patients living with digestive conditions, the anxiety of being caught short in public can be as debilitating as the physical symptoms themselves. Guts UK, the national charity for the digestive system, launched their “Can’t Wait” card to address this barrier to independence and improve patients’ quality of life.