Development and Pilot Testing of a New Bladder Diary Format: Phase 1

The primary aim of this project was to develop a bladder diary that was user-friendly and included detailed information consistent with the ICS (International Continence Society) definition of a urinary diary. The decision to formulate a new bladder diary was made in response to poor completion rates and feedback indicating that it was poorly understood. The secondary aim was to evaluate the success of a 3-day vs a 2-day diary in terms of completeness.

A convenience sample size of 24 diaries was chosen because this equated to 6 urodynamics clinic sessions. An initial retrospective audit demonstrated that completeness was a clinical issue. A committee comprising expert clinicians was established to gain consensus and formulate new diary content and format.

The new diary was audited and showed a significantly higher completion rate than the old format. Phase 3 involved trialing a 3-day diary after content validity had been achieved.

This new diary format, content and duration are in line with recommended best practice guidelines and provide clinicians with a better tool to assess patients with lower urinary tract symptoms. The 3-day duration was proved to be interpretable and reliable by an audit. This pilot project shows that developing a user-friendly format, improving patient education and including a sample diary resulted in decreased completion and compliance issues.