Stoma care and diet in the community

There are over 205 000 people in the UK living in the community with a stoma. There are potential issues with body image that are encountered when living with a stoma (Porrett, 2022). Other issues relate to learning to live with a stoma; for example, developing the practical skills necessary to care for one's stoma appliance (Jin et al, 2021). This is important as it is reported that 80% of people living with a stoma will develop some form of peristomal complication within the first couple of years (LeBlanc et al, 2019), which can negatively affect quality of life (Rolls et al, 2022). The physical care of the appliance and how to change it, is learnt in hospital; however, learning to adapt dietary intake takes longer as most people do not eat a full diet when they are discharged home. It is important for community nurses to consider diet and the stoma as this is often a complex situation in which patients want advice. Unfortunately, research is limited in the area and advice provided by healthcare professionals can be contradictory, especially for the care of high output stomas. This article explores the types of diet people with stomas should consider adopting, with the aim to increase understanding and standardisation of information provided.