One Handed Ostomy Care?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Hello everybody,

once again I am in need of your advice. My home health company has recieved a referral today to teach a one-armed man to do his own ostomy care. Our search on the internet has been fruitless, so I thought I'll drop by and take advantage of this source of knowledge. I was wondering if anybody here has had experience with this kind of situations, or knows where I can find info.

Thanks

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Whew - that's a challenge. My father was one-handed throughout his adult life from 22 y/o to 77 y/o and did everything fine. What about contacting a nearby VA med center. Amputees are the most common injury in Iraq and they might be able to help. The VA also has done many studies on adaptation to amputations. good luck.

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Specializes in Home Health.

Has the pt been d/c yet? Is he coming from a hospital or rehab? What is the age/cognitive ability of the pt?

It may be more appropriate for him to go to rehab, is this a new ostomy or new amputation? Has he had an occupational therapist working with him?

What I would suggest is to first ask these questions, and also if there is a willing CG to assist, if you feel you are getting the woll pulled over your eyes, I would suggest you send a nurse to the hospital to eval the pt for appropriateness of homecare prior to accepting the referral.

What you obviously don't want to happen is to commit to changin this ostomy 24/7, which no agency can afford.

If he has been an amputee for some time, he will be able top adapt, like anything else, and you will learn from him!

Let us know what you find out.

Oh yeah, what about an ET nurse?? Has the hospital arranged for one to visit the pt and do teaching prior to d/c?? That is pretty standard.

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Specializes in M/S/Tele, Home Health, Gen ICU.

What kind of ostomy is it? If it is a colostomy andthe stool is firm and not a constant stream a peice device may be easier to apply. The trickiest thing will be the clamp. How about an OT referal for adaptive equipment?

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Never mind people, turned out this referral was a false alarm.

All our intake department nurses were sick that day and one of our accountants was running intake. She failed to ask some questions nurses would have asked and get a complete history.

Turns out that he has had an osomy for 8+ years, HAS 2 arms, had minor surgery too his left hand and was not able to use it fully, but has a wife as a caregiver who knows how to do everything, and he declined our services :rolleyes: .

We looked through our Nursing Procedures, Internet, and tried to get a consult with an ostomy nurse for 2 hours before we got a hold of the patient and get the whole story.

But thanks to everyone for giving me such good replies.

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Even though the issue has been resolved, I will tell you that just last week I cared for a patient on our floor. He had two arms, but one of them was completely useless (an attacker had stabbed him several times and ruined nerves). He also, as a result of the stabbings, had a new colostomy. I never personally watched him do his care, but he was completely independent with the colostomy. Apparently instead of emptying it using the bottom of the pouch and re-rolling it up, he just took the whole appliance off the wafer every time it needed emptying and did it that way.

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