Ostomy Care: Management and Patient Education in Home Care

Course overview

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.