Burnbrae Gardens sees positive results from participating in IC3

Quality assurance program goal is to reduce episodes on incontinence

September 20, 2011 -- Deb Bartlett

Participation in a quality assurance program around toileting and incontinence has had positive results at Burnbrae Gardens.

Susan Cymbaluk, the administrator and director of care at the Campbellford home, says the goal of participating in the Improving Continence Care Collaborative (IC3) practice is to reduce the number of incidents of incontinence, which in turn increases residents' self-esteem and decreases the risk of skin irritation.

Reducing incontinence has been a quality assurance program at Burnbrae Gardens since last September, and the home enrolled in the IC3 best practice program in June.

Cymbaluk says one of the first steps is knowing who's incontinent, and to what degree. Staff tracked whether a resident was occasionally, frequently or totally incontinent of both bowel and bladder, and when the incontinence occurred.

Staff members then devised a toileting plan that includes prompted voiding prior to the times a resident would be incontinent.

The process of tracking and documenting residents takes a year, says Cymbaluk.

"It's too overwhelming to do the entire resident population," she says. "When you enrol in the IC3 best practice program, they encourage you to stick to a low number and pick residents that understand what you're trying to, and consent to being in the program."

It will be easier to restore the level of continence in a resident who is not incontinent often, says Cymbaluk.

Since June, staff members have been tracking incontinence levels and slowly reducing incontinence levels by doing toileting rehab and adding interventions provided by the IC3 program with the rehab.

Cymbaluk says the home's quality assurance statement was to track three different types of incontinence and each resident, which has been successfully completed.

Additionally, the home set a goal of reducing the incontinence by 30 per cent by December 2011.

The home is already seeing fewer episodes of frequent and occasional incontinence, she says.

Rather than overwhelming staff, the home started with occasionally incontinent residents and perfected their plans.

"Then you go to the next two residents, and you review every month," says Cymbaluk, "and you continue to move through the resident population."

If you have feedback on this story, contact Deb at 800-294-0051, or e-mail deb(at)axiomnews.ca.

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