Healthcare professionals' experiences and views of providing continence support and advice to people living at home with dementia: "That's a carer's job".

BACKGROUND: People living with dementia at home and their family carers often feel unsupported by healthcare professionals in managing continence problems. In turn, primary and community-based healthcare professionals have reported lacking specific knowledge on dementia-continence. This study aimed to understand more about healthcare professionals' experiences and views of supporting people living with dementia experiencing continence problems, as part of developing acceptable resources. Having a nuanced understanding of unmet need would facilitate the design of engaging resources that enable healthcare professionals to provide more effective continence support to people living with dementia at home. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a range of healthcare professionals (n = 31) working in primary and community care in the South of England in 2023. Transcribed interviews were uploaded to NVivo 12, then analysed inductively and deductively using a thematic framework. RESULTS: Continence-related conversations were avoided by many healthcare professionals due to lack of dementia-continence specific knowledge. Many considered that continence problems of people living with dementia were largely outside their remit once a physical cause had been ruled out. This contributed to a lack of priority and proactivity in raising the subject of continence in their consultations. Challenges to providing support included limited consultation time and lack of access to specialist services with availability to support individuals. CONCLUSION: There is substantial scope to support primary and community-based healthcare professionals in their provision of continence-related support and advice to people living at home with dementia. This includes addressing knowledge deficits, enhancing confidence and instilling a sense of accomplishment.

Early postoperative Takotsubo cardiomyopathy: a case report.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), also called stress-induced cardiomyopathy, is a rare type of nonischemic cardiomyopathy accompanied by a transient ballooning and akinesis of the left ventricle. It has been reported mainly in the Japanese literature, although awareness is increasing in the United States and Europe. The reason for the increased incidence in postmenopausal women remains unclear, as does why the apex and left ventricular midcavity are commonly affected. The degree of symptom presentation and severity varies widely and is usually accompanied by an unremarkable medical history. The most frequent presentation is left ventricular dysfunction with or without pulmonary edema. Identifying signs and symptoms and its correlation with physical or emotional stress will lead to early diagnosis and intervention. This case report describes a premenopausal woman in whom TC developed in the immediate postoperative period following general anesthesia.