Patient-centred stoma care support: ileostomy patients

Astoma is a surgically created opening in the abdomen that allows for the diversion of faeces or urine outside the body (Marinova et al, 2021). There are three main types of stomas: ileostomy, colostomy, and urostomy, which can be temporary or permanent.

Stoma patients require continuous support throughout their entire life with a stoma, and this often is done through established stoma patient pathways (Davenport, 2014; Marinova and Marinova, 2023). Although stoma patient perioperative pathways exist, these are normally not universal across the UK or the world. Furthermore, patients may not be fully prepared to manage their specific stoma type, especially in the first few months postoperatively, and it may be challenging to achieve independence/self-care while still in hospital, as each stoma – for example, ileostomy, colostomy, urostomy – requires tailored advice and care. If patients do not fully grasp the provided education and advice in the immediate pre- and postoperative period, this may lead to some stoma patients struggling after discharge. If patients’ stoma-specific needs are not addressed, this may lead to avoidable complications and, in some cases, even hospital admissions. Therefore, it is becoming increasingly necessary to develop stoma patient pathways tailored to different patient groups, rather than manage everyone under the same standardised pathways, which is in line with many other personalised stratified follow-up pathways (Røsstad et al, 2013; NHS England and NHS Improvement, 2020).