Alaska nursing home takes national role in addressing urinary incontinence

Urinary incontinence affects over half of all residents in the nation's 25,000 nursing homes. While incontinence assessment, treatment and management techniques have been validated under "laboratory" conditions, the practicality of maintaining the systems pose difficulties for most nursing homes. An evaluation of a new automated system for managing urinary incontinence indicates that a nursing home in Anchorage, Alaska, has successfully implemented and maintained the new system for over ten (10) months. Researchers found that The Mary Conrad Center quickly reduced wetness rates in the target group from 25 percent prior to implementation of the program, to about eight percent and have been able to reduce wetness rates to even lower levels in subsequent months. The evaluation provides critical evidence that nursing homes can implement and maintain the comprehensive system. If further testing in other facilities result in similar findings, the system stands to impact the quality of care for over one million nursing home residents affected by urinary incontinence.