Guest Editorial: The National Association for Continence: Thinking Outside the Box

  Every December, Ostomy Wound Management provides a venue for proliferating information about a common yet, incredibly still, stigmatized condition: incontinence. Practitioners assert that although patients are embarrassed and inconvenienced by their symptoms, they are reluctant to seek help, weighing revealing their situation and improving quality of life against the cost of dealing with a comparatively benign condition. Thankfully, there is the National Association For Continence (NAFC). Headquartered in Charleston, South Carolina, the NAFC is the world’s largest and most prolific consumer advocacy organization dedicated to helping people who struggle with incontinence and related voiding dysfunction. Its mission is focused on public education and awareness, collaboration to disseminate information, and advocacy on behalf of the estimated 25 million adult Americans who live with incontinence.   Providers and patients might assume that the NAFC is exclusively concerned with the bodily systems directly involved in achieving continence. Astutely, the NAFC addresses everything that gets people to “toilet” without distress. Hence, articles now featured on the NAFC website (www.nafc.org) address the role of feet and stem cell research in bladder function. Feet (in particular, the big toe) provide stability and help with balance, necessary for safely ambulating to the bathroom. The fact is that more than one third of adults ages 65 and older fall each year; falls are the leading cause of injury or death in this age group. Urinary incontinence is frequently reported as a risk factor for falling, as people rush to the bathroom or are awakened out of sleep to urinate. Having healthy feet can decrease the risk for falling. To foster good foot health, the NAFC shares the Institute for Preventive Foot Health’s recommendations, which include practicing proper hygiene, keeping feet clean and dry, inspecting feet regularly and paying attention to skin problems, keeping toenails cut and trimmed properly (patients should consult a physician if they are diabetic or if nails are discolored), and wearing sensible, comfortable, properly fitted shoes and socks.

  Alert for innovative approaches to incontinence, the NAFC website also reports that the first US stem cell trial for stress urinary incontinence is underway at Beaumont Hospital in Detroit. The research involves injecting the patient’s own thigh muscle stem cells (no embryo or fetal tissues are involved) into the muscles around the urethra for strength and support. Similar stem cell studies in Toronto reported 60% of study participants improved 1 year after the procedure, with no side effects.

  In addition to educating and informing, the NAFC recognizes health professionals who raise awareness of the importance of addressing incontinence in clinical practice. The Continence Care Champion Award was established to acknowledge healthcare clinicians who elevate research and enhance clinical practice and education in the field of incontinence. Over the years, the NAFC has recognized Continence Care Champions that include Mikel Gray, PhD, MSN, BSN; Marta Lee Krissovich, MS, RN, NP; and Katherine Moore, PhD, RN. Several Continence Care Champions have been featured in OWM’s “My Scope of Practice.”

  This year, the NAFC launched a new website and added professional membership benefits, including an opportunity for health professionals to win a week’s stay at a ski vacation house in Lake Tahoe. Throughout November and December, members of the Wound Ostomy Continence Nurses (WOCN) Society receive a 20% discount on NAFC professional membership. To learn more about membership benefits and the Lake Tahoe vacation giveaway, visit www.nafc.org (go to the “Health Professionals” tab at the top of the page, click on the “Professional Societies” tab to access the special offer for WOCN Society members).

  The NAFC is grateful to OWM for affording the opportunity for incontinence clinicians to read about its mission and activities and also for providing timely articles on incontinence. This issue’s featured incontinence article was authored by Diane Newman, RNC, MSN, CRNP, FAAN, Co-Director, Penn Center for Continence and Pelvic Health, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, PA. The article is an everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about treatise to catheters and a reminder that catheters need not be invasive or permanent. In addition, “Special to OWM” offers highlights from presentations included in the 38th Annual Meeting of the International Continence Society, held this past October in Cairo, Egypt.

  We wish all continence care clinicians — as well as providers of wound, ostomy, skin and related care — continued success and fulfillment as you treat the most challenging of conditions in the most grateful of patients. May your holidays and the new year include good health for you and those for whom you care.

Erratum

  There were two errors in the Ostomy Wound Management November 2008 Table of Contents. My Scope of Practice, listed to begin on page 14, actually appeared on pages 18 and 20. Hollister Wound Care-sponsored Perspectives on Pain, “Minimizing Complications of Pain and Dressing Adherence in the Treatment of Venous Ulcers,” pages 12–14, was inadvertently omitted from the Table of Contents. The Editors sincerely apologize for any confusion or inconvenience.

This article was not subject to the OWM peer review process.