Article
Clinical practice guidelines for elderly people with constipation in Taiwan
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Published: | July 10, 2012 |
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Background: Constipation is highly prevalent (about 50% ~ 88%) and also a common health problem in elderly people. The physiological and psychological health of the elderly people are depressed by the constipation problem. Thus, the quality of life of the elderly people also is decreased. The constipation among the elderly people can be improved by the Non-pharmaceutical interventions. The Clinical practice guidelines can provide appropriate interventions for constipation in the elderly population.
Methods: The 5-step evidence-based approaches were established, including asking an answerable issue, systematic review, critical appraisal, integrating the appraisal with clinical expertise, and evaluating performance in step1–4. AGREE instrument is selected to assess the quality of the Clinical practice guidelines among the elderly people with constipation.
Results: The Clinical practice guidelines among the elderly people with constipation includes elderly health assessment, dietary interventions, acupressure, exercise, and caregivers education. The average scores for the six domains of AGREE were 92.6, 52.8, 73.0, 72.2, 51.9 and 50, respectively. We also surveyed the clinical applicability in 3 hospitals RNs(n=120) in northern and southern Taiwan. The results showed that 94% nurses agree the Clinical practice guidelines help them to provide more effective and higher quality of care as well as health education.
Conclusions: We developed these Clinical practice guidelines and planned to improve the health problem of constipation among the elderly people in Taiwan long-term care institute. Parents' opinions, simple flow charts and education resources in this Clinical practice guideline are very promising for usage in the clinical application.