Overactive Bladder in Women: Nurses Can Improve Screening, Management of a Common Problem

“Whether due to discomfort with the topic or a lack of knowledge about treatment options, some women attempt to manage symptoms on their own, a decision that can lead to additional problems…”

Can Significantly Affect Daily Activities

Among women 18 to 70 years old, almost a third are “sometimes” affected by the symptoms of overactive bladder, according to the authors of this month’s CE feature, “Overactive Bladder in Women.” This rate is nearly twice that among men, and prevalence is known to increase in all adults as they age.

Overactive bladder can significantly affect daily activities, with many women altering their routines to ensure a bathroom is nearby. The “hallmark symptom of overactive bladder is urgency,” according to authors Mary H. Palmer, PhD, RN-BC, FAAN, AGSF, and Marcella G. Willis-Gray, MD. Women may experience urgency with urinary incontinence, stress urinary incontinence, or mixed urinary incontinence (in which a combination of these symptoms occurs).

A Tendency to Self-Manage

Despite the impact of this condition on everyday routines, patients often resist talking to their health care providers about symptoms—or do so as an afterthought, as the patient does in the hypothetical case study accompanying this article. Whether due to discomfort with the topic or a lack of knowledge about treatment options, some women attempt to manage symptoms on their own, a decision […]

2017-04-03T10:53:35-04:00April 3rd, 2017|Nursing|0 Comments
Read More

Chronic, Common, Hidden: Helping Patients With Urinary or Fecal Incontinence

Article illustration by Gingermoth. All rights reserved. Article illustration by Gingermoth. All rights reserved.

By Maureen Shawn Kennedy, MA, RN, AJN editor-in-chief

Urinary and fecal incontinence are not the kinds of health topics widely discussed—people may compare notes about knee or hip replacements or their cholesterol levels, but you’ll find few people talking about leaking urine or feces. Even at medical and nursing conferences—unless one happens to be at a conference specifically dealing with those issues—you might be hard-pressed to find the topic on a program agenda.

But these are common problems—a 1995 report in the CDC’s MMWR estimated that 15%–30% of adults over age 60 suffer from urinary incontinence. (And that was 10 years ago. No doubt that number is higher by now, given the higher numbers of people who are over 60.) Fecal incontinence occurs in about one in 12 adults—in a 2009 report, that was 18 million people.

It’s the kind of problem that can drastically change the quality of life for those who have it, due to their fear of having an “accident” in public. Think about it: no extended excursions unless there are facilities all along the way (this can rule out many outdoor activities like golf, trips to the beach, or hiking); timed meals and beverages to reduce the chance […]

2016-11-21T13:05:38-05:00January 13th, 2014|nursing perspective, nursing research|2 Comments
Read More

AJN’s January Issue: Perceptions of Employment-Based Discrimination Among FENs, Self-Management of Incontinence, Book of the Year Awards, More

AJNJANAJN’s January issue is now available on our Web site. Here’s a selection of what not to miss, including two continuing education (CE) articles, which you can access for free.

Experts say that nursing shortages could reappear as soon as 2015. Historically, foreign-educated nurses (FENs) have been essential in filling those spaces. This month’s original research article, “Perceptions of Employment-Based Discrimination Among Newly Arrived Foreign-Educated Nurses,” surveyed FENs to determine whether they perceived they were being treated equitably in the U.S. workplace.

Earn 2.5 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test that follows. If you’re reading AJN on your iPad, you can listen to a podcast interview with the author by clicking on the podcast icon on the first page. The podcast is also available on our Web site.

Incontinence can have many distressing physical and social outcomes, and many sufferers try to deal with the condition on their own. “Self-Management of Urinary and Fecal Incontinence” provides nurses with strategies that can be incorporated within the framework of self-management to control urinary, fecal, or dual incontinence. Earn 2.3 CE credits by reading this article and taking the test that follows.

Violence is a recognized public health problem in the Unites States, and the media’s focus on recent tragic stories has likely reinforced the common perception that mental illness causes violence. “Mental Health and Violence,” an article in our Mental Health Matters column, reviews the relevant research and describes how all […]

2016-11-21T13:05:44-05:00December 26th, 2013|career, nursing research|0 Comments
Read More

Comment ground rules

1. Please be respectful.
2. We moderate all comments.

Content disclaimer

Views expressed on the blog are solely those of the authors or persons quoted. They do not necessarily reflect AJN’s views or those of Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams and Wilkins.
Go to Top