Iatrogenic incontinence in institutional care settings

The public rightly expects high quality dignified care for all, including older people and persons living with dementia who require care in an institutional care setting such as a hospital or care home. However, in many countries, care quality within these institutions falls far below the public’s expectations.

The speakers for this podcast draw on their own research and broader research to draw attention to institutional structures and processes of care that are risk factors for iatrogenic incontinence. Professor Joan Ostaszkiewicz advocates for continence care that foregrounds the person’s dignity in everyday care interactions. Professor Katie Featherstone describes how her ethnographic research illuminated practices in hospitals that systematically fail to recognise and meet the basic hygiene needs of older people and people living with dementia. Dr Tiina Vaittinnen argues that iatrogenic incontinence is a form of harm and injustice that is deeply imbued in the present cultures of care in institutionalised care settings and that it is caused by dysfunctional health systems. Collectively, they articulate the system-level, long-term economic and environmental impacts of the lack of attention to incontinence and continence caregiving in public health and policy.

Joan Ostaszkiewicz, Nurse

Katie Featherstone, Social Scientist

Tiina Vaittinen Vaittinen, Health Services Researcher

Piers Gibbon, Journalist

Early registration for ICS 2024 Madrid is now open at www.ics.org/2024

The ICS annual meeting is the must-attend, multidisciplinary event for clinical and research scientists interested in:

Urology Urogynaecology Female and functional urology Gynaecology Bowel dysfunction Neurourology Pure and applied science Physiotherapy Nursing Geriatrics

The ICS 2024 Madrid conference fosters collaboration between all disciplines involved in continence care.