Improving the nursing quality of non-pharmacological interventions for elderly constipation patients in the hospital: a best practice implementation project

Introduction: Non-pharmacological interventions are the preferred treatment for constipation; however, health care professionals in clinical settings tend to focus more on pharmacological treatments.

Objectives: This best practice implementation project aimed to integrate the best evidence on non-pharmacological interventions for elderly patients with constipation in clinical care practice and to promote the use of non-pharmacological interventions for such patients in the hospital setting.

Methods: This project is based on the JBI Evidence Implementation Framework, which follows three stages. The first stage involved a baseline audit using two audit criteria derived from the best available evidence. This audit evaluated current clinical scenarios, guided by the i-PARIHS framework. The second stage involved analyzing the results of the baseline audit, identifying barriers to compliance, and developing and implementing strategies to overcome those barriers. Strategies included nursing education, development of constipation information booklets for nurses and patients, establishment of a nursing workflow, and modification of the department environment. In the third stage, a follow-up audit was conducted to evaluate the implementation, using the same data collection indicators and methods as in the baseline audit. Sixty patients participated in the project.

Results: Compliance for Criterion 1 (patient education) increased from 0% to 60% ( p < 0.001), while compliance for Criterion 2 (monitoring patients' bowel health) increased from 0% to 100% ( p < 0.001).

Conclusions: The results indicate that this evidence-based implementation project facilitated the application of non-pharmacological interventions for elderly patients with constipation. Nurses played a significant role in developing regular defecation habits in patients and monitoring their defecation.

Spanish abstract: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A284.