Ostomy Care: Management and Patient Education in Home Care

Presented by Carrie Adkins

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Video Runtime: 42 Minutes; Learning Assessment Time: 29 Minutes

Caring for patients with fecal and urinary ostomies in the home setting can be intimidating and challenging for the home health clinician. Managing a new or problematic ostomy can be overwhelming for a patient and caregiver, so they depend on the home health clinician to be the expert. Problematic ostomies can be costly for a home health agency if there is not a skilled and knowledgeable clinician available. For many clinicians, ostomy knowledge and experience may be lacking. This course will provide the anatomy, terminology, and reasons for an ostomy. We will also discuss how to pouch a stoma and care for peristomal skin. A patient case scenario will be presented, with examples and demonstrations of a pouch change. A variety of pouches and available accessories will be discussed.

Meet your instructor

Carrie Adkins

Carrie is currently working as a care manager II wound care nurse for myNEXUS. At myNEXUS, she helps home health agencies with their authorizations for wound and ostomy skilled nursing visits, ensuring that patients are receiving proper and appropriate wound and ostomy care. Prior to working at myNEXUS, she had been an RN in…

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Chapters & learning objectives

What Type of Ostomy Is This?

1. What Type of Ostomy Is This?

This chapter will discuss the characteristics of a colostomy, ileostomy, and urostomy/ileal conduit, and what can be expected from each different type of ostomy. This is important information to have to be able to teach your home health patient about their stoma, including what to expect and when to contact the nurse or physician.

How to Identify and Manage Peristomal Skin Complications

2. How to Identify and Manage Peristomal Skin Complications

Various peristomal skin complications will be discussed, and numerous examples of these complications will be provided. Prevention and treatment options to best care for the home health patient will be discussed. This chapter will include discussions of ostomies close to incision lines or abdominal wounds.

How to Put a Pouch On Properly

3. How to Put a Pouch On Properly

In home care, it is very important to begin early teaching with a patient and caregiver on proper pouch technique. We will discuss how to place a pouch and different techniques for doing so. Techniques that will help a patient or caregiver pouch more easily will be discussed and demonstrated.

So Many Pouches, So Many Accessories

4. So Many Pouches, So Many Accessories

There are many ostomy pouches, accessories, and products. Convex, flat, moldable, precut, one-piece, and two-piece options will be discussed. Numerous accessories will be described and shown to you. This practical chapter will explain what a patient will need when leaving the home or traveling and things to think about regarding activities, privacy, and everyday life with an ostomy.