Managing urinary incontinence at the end of life: an examination of the evidence that informs practice.

To achieve a 'good' death, management of urinary incontinence at the end of life arguably should be as much a priority for nursing attention as managing symptoms such as pain and nausea. To understand how contemporary best practice is described and the nature of interventions prescribed for managing this issue, this article reviews the content of 16 seminal palliative care textbooks and 10 journal articles (retrieved through systematic search techniques) that discuss the management of urinary incontinence for patients at the end of life. The findings depict an area of nursing that has been governed by 'common sense' and precedent rather than evidence-based research, particularly regarding the use of indwelling urinary catheters. There is very little robust research evidence on this topic. Further research is required to ascertain the current state of practice in settings where patients who are approaching the end of life are cared for and the needs and preferences of patients and families.