Peristomal skin care considerations for community nurses

In the UK, there are some 124 000 people living with a stoma (Boyles and Hunt, 2016), and community nurses will encounter these individuals given that many of them live at home or in the community. The most common issues experienced by people with a stoma are problems with the skin around the stoma (peristomal skin). Community nurses often have to provide skin care for ostomates, and increased knowledge regarding the care of peristomal skin will increase community nurses' confidence in dealing with skin issues, especially those that may result in appliance leakage.

There are three main types of output stoma that the community nurse is likely to see. These are the colostomy, ileostomy and urostomy. A colostomy will usually pass formed faeces and flatus between three times a day and three times a week, into a closed appliance. An ileostomy will usually pass porridge-like faeces and flatus into a drainable appliance that is emptied about six times a day and changed every 1–3 days. Finally, a urostomy appliance is drainable with a tap or bung fastening, and it is emptied about six times daily and usually replaced every day or every other day (Black, 2014).