Authors (including presenting author) :
Wong SW Arale (1), Lam WS (1), Chung YY(1), Cheng Elaine (2), Sha KY Edmund(2)
Affiliation :
(1) Continence Nurse Clinic (2) Department of Geri-medical, United Christian Hospital, KEC, HA
Introduction :
Pelvic floor muscle exercise (PFME) is the first line behavioral therapy for treatment of urinary incontinence (UI), however, patient ‘s compliance on performing PFME is pretty low which optimal effect on alleviating UI was limited. “I forget to do the exercise” was the major reason for poor achievement. Therefore, in order to engage and embrace patient ‘s self-motivation on performing PFME regularly, an intensive training nursing program was conducted by continence nurse.
Objectives :
To review UI condition, PFME compliance (ExC) and Quality of Life (Qol) before and after the program
Methodology :
Prospective study was designed to obtain information of patient’s UI condition and PFME compliance. Patients with UI were recruited from Continence Nurse Clinic from 1.9.2021 to 31.12.2022, the program was introduced to patients with verbal consent obtained, intensive bi-weekly (total for 8 weeks) phone call was made to remind patients to perform PFME and their UI symptoms were evaluated. Subjective data on symptom scorings and objective data by one hour pad test (1-hr PadT) were reviewed whereas pre and post treatment results were analyzed by SPSS version 20.0. P value < 0.05 was considered statically significant.
Result & Outcome :
Total 29 patients (Female: 27, Male: 2) were recruited, the average age for female patient was 57.4 and 55.5 for male patients. Before the program, overall average number of pads used per day (Pad/D) was 2.2, intermittent (4th week of program) Pad/D was 1.6 which post program Pad/D was 1.2 (45.5% improved with P<0.05). Pre-program average 1-hr PadT was 11.6 grams and post-program 1-hr PadT was 3.1 grams (73.3% improved with P<0.05). For ExC, pre-program average number per day was 1.9, intermittent ExC was 2.4 and post-program ExC was 2.7 (42.1% improvement with P= 0.283). For frequency of urine leakage Q1 scored in ICIQ-5, 26.9 % improvement rate (from 2.6 to 1.9, P=0.004), for urine leakage severity Q2, 17.4 % improvement rate (from 2.3 to 1.9, P=0.067) was noted after the program. And patients’ Qol with 35% improvement (from 6.0 to 3.9, P=0.496) was noted.
Overall, both subjective and objective data positively shown the success of treating UI for patients by the intensive program. However, the objective improvement in UI reflected by 1-hr PadT and Pad/D was much obvious than subjective scoring on ICIQ-5 Q1 despite those results were statistically significant. Nevertheless, patient ‘s response on Qol improvement was clinically promising. As a continence nurse, encouragement and positive reinforcement to patient will further motivate UI patients for their active participation in disease management.
