Bowel management in patients with spinal cord injury - a multicentre study of the German speaking society of paraplegia (DMGP)

Study design: A descriptive, cross- sectional, multicentre design was used. Objective: To analyse bowel management in patients with spinal cord injury ( SCI) especially the occurrence of unplanned bowel evacuations and duration of planned bowel evacuation. Setting: In total, 29 rehabilitation facilities for SCI patients in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland, with a total of 837 hospitalized SCI patients. Method: Data were collected by nurses within 1 week in November 2001 using a quantitative questionnaire containing 14 questions. For data analysis, a chi(2)- test was used for differences in the outcome of bowel evacuation procedures associated with different interventions. Stepwise multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the relationship between the outcome of bowel management and the interventions as well as intervening factors. Results: More unplanned bowel evacuations were associated with usage of oral laxatives ( n = 444, P < 0.001) as well as bowel evacuation every day ( n = 270, P < 0.05) or every second day ( n = 368, P < 0.05). The outcome of less unplanned bowel evacuations was associated with manual removal of stool combined with digital stimulation ( n = 35, P < 0.05) and spontaneous bowel evacuations ( n = 104, P < 0.001). Short duration of bowel evacuation ( < 60 min) was associated with manual removal of stool ( n = 64, P < 0.05), the sitting position at defecation ( n = 494, P < 0.001) and low frequency of bowel evacuation ( >= 3 days) ( n = 638, P < 0.05). Duration 460 min was associated with the use of oral laxatives ( n = 444, P < 0.001) and complete loss of sensory function ( n = 349, P < 0.05). Stool of hard consistency was associated with the manual removal of stool ( n = 64, P < 0.001), the manual removal of stool in combination with digital stimulation ( n = 53, P < 0.001) and the sitting position at defecation ( n = 494, P < 0.05). Stool of soft consistency ( n = 341) was associated with the complete motor lesion ( n = 443, P < 0.05). Conclusion: Manual removal of stool was combined with low risk of unplanned bowel evacuations and short duration of evacuation time. These results are useful to improve the outcomes of bowel management in SCI patients.