Accurate continence assessments, improving outcomes for residents

This Content Marketing article was produced for TENA Professional and first appeared in Australian Ageing Agenda.

New to the Australian market, TENA^® Identifi^™ has been well received by one of Australia’s leading providers of in-home care, residential aged care, disability services and retirement living.

TENA Identifi enables Residential Aged Care Facilities (RACFs) to conduct accurate continence assessments to provide true individualised care. The system is made up of specially designed pads that contain integrated sensors and a logger that transmits data via an embedded mobile SIM card to a secure web portal. Following the 72 hour assessment, a report is generated that demonstrates when a resident voids, how frequently, and how much.

Accurate reporting

This reporting can provide person centred care as it enables individual care plans to be created with these advantages:

Accurate pad changing times
Accurate toileting times
Correct product selection

According to the group’s Services Manager, TENA Identifi has been implemented due to a buying decision in response to their history of high variation between prescription and actual use of continence aids, along with the over-prescription of aids.

The Services Manager was impressed by the unbiased, timely and accurate results in the TENA Identifi Report. She commented that the data helps to make good clinical decisions around continence care while also highlighting areas in practices that can be improved. The Care Coordinator of one of the RACFs believed it was also much easier for staff to conduct an assessment with TENA Identifi than to conduct a manual assessment and make ‘guesstimates’.

Outcomes

One of the qualitative outcomes found during the trial, was that one resident undergoing a TENA Identifi assessment was drinking too little. Within the first 24 hours of the assessment, the Services Manager reviewed the data output and found the resident’s urine output to be disturbingly low. The Services Manager was able to prescribe an increase in fluids to avoid dehydration. The impact from the increase in fluids could then be seen in the TENA Identifi report, and this lead to an improvement in care outcomes for the resident.

“This is a real-life example of how TENA Identifi can truly improve individualised care. It’s great to hear stories like this,” said Gabrielle Curran, RN with over 30 years’ experience, now working as Health Support Consultant at Asaleo Care.

It is well-recognised that quality continence management starts with a comprehensive assessment.

Currently in most RACFs, continence assessments are conducted manually by carers or nurses. Carers check to see if residents have voided and estimate the void amounts. This often provides inaccurate data upon which toileting, pad changes and product choices are determined. Product absorbency levels have been found to be higher than needed in 76 percent of cases using this manual method, compared to when TENA Identifi is used.¹ This has also been the case in this current pilot.

Benefits

In TENA Identifi pilot programs abroad, the following was reported:

24 percent reduction in the absorbency of pads needed¹
21 percent reduction in pad changes²
Better comfort and less skin irritation for residents
45 percent of residents experienced better timing of toileting routines¹

The result is lower cost overall and less waste, and more significantly, better individualised care.

In this latest pilot, the Care Coordinator also reported fewer night-time disturbances and more clarity. While the Services Manager expressed eagerness to get things right for continence and believed TENA Identifi had delivered on her expectations.

Customer results from 210 before and after monitoring reports done with TENA Identifi in Denmark. The monitoring reports were done in the period from June 2013 to June 2015.
Proven in practice in the Netherlands. Reference on request.