Regular monitoring with stool chart prevents constipation, urinary retention and delirium in elderly patients: an audit leading to clinical effectiveness, efficiency and patient centredness.

Abstract

Monitoring patients’ bowel habits is very important in geriatric wards. Constipation in elderly patients may result in urinary retention, delirium and bowel obstruction. However, there was a concern that bowel monitoring might have been missed and that documentation in stool charts was occasionally not completed in busy medical wards. We carried out the study to assess the quality of bowel monitoring with the Bristol stool chart. The standard is that every elderly patient should have bowel monitoring with the stool chart every day. The stool chart must be fully documented. The compliance must be 100%.