Constipation management is in need of improvement. This improvement is more likely to be achieved with a thorough initial assessment and ongoing daily monitoring with evaluation. A practical, user-friendly documentation system that facilitates this has been developed at Marie Curie Hospice, Solihull. It is currently being used with great success in a hospice inpatient setting and is transferable to hospitals. With some modification it could be used by district nurses and general practitioners in the community. It is an important step towards improving the management of constipation.
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