New App Supports Nurses to Provide Bladder and Bowel Continence Care

A free app that could boost nurses’ success in managing patients with bladder or bowel incontinence was launched on Monday, marking the beginning of World Continence Week. Those behind the new app said it was a result of a “genuine desire to help people with bladder and bowel symptoms access information and advice that can help”. The CONfidence app offers information, self-care tips and links to local health and support services for the estimated 14 million people in the UK with bladder control problems, and the 6.5 million who have bowel control problems. Read more.

Source: Nursing Times, June 22, 2021

InterStim Incontinence and Bladder Control Implant Now Controlled via App

Medtronic won FDA approval to introduce the InterStim smart programmer to control the company’s InterStim neurostimulation system used to manage overactive bladder, bowel incontinence, and some types of urinary retention. The InterStim system delivers sacral neuromodulation therapy via an implant that looks similar to a cardiac pacemaker. Read more.

Medgadget, December 17, 2018

BewellConnect’s MyPeriTens Multi-Action Pelvic Floor Trainer

BewellConnect recently unveiled their new pelvic floor muscle trainer to help women with related issues, including post-partum complications and incontinence. The MyPeriTens device is both an electrical nerve stimulator and electrical muscle stimulator that is controlled through a smartphone app, allowing women to have precise control over the intensity and nature of the electrical signals delivered. The smartphone app has a number of routines built in that the woman can perform on her own, or with assistance of a physical therapist. Each routine can be selected to run at the patient’s preferred intensity level, maximizing benefits while keeping any pain and discomfort at a minimum. Read more.

Source: Medgadget, February 15, 2018

Crohn’s and Colitis Canada Wants Businesses to Open Their Washrooms to Those In Need

Crohn’s and Colitis Canada is taking aim at a serious hurdle many Canadians with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis face – accessing washrooms on the go. November is Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Month, and the national charity is advocating that public washroom access is a right, not a privilege, and for the Canadians living with these chronic diseases, it’s a critical need. Crohn’s and colitis are debilitating, yet often invisible, autoimmune diseases. They cause the body to attack healthy tissue, leading to the inflammation of all or part of the digestive tract. Symptoms include diarrhea, internal bleeding, and abdominal pain, and result in the frequent and urgent need to use the washroom, in some cases over 20 times a day. Read more.

Source: CNW, November 1, 2017

Pixie Scientific Announces U.S. Commercial Launch of Its Smart Pads

Pixie Scientific announced today that it has completed the FDA registration for Pixie Smart Pads and has begun shipping to Early Access customers. The Class I medical device utilizes a patented sensor and software platform to unobtrusively monitor incontinent seniors for an analyte commonly associated with urinary tract infections (UTIs). Pixie Scientific is a healthcare platform technology company focused on improving outcomes by connecting populations at risk with unobtrusive health monitoring—a field Pixie refers to as Connected Care. Pixie’s patented platform consists of a biosensor, a mobile app, and secure cloud architecture which utilizes machine learning for analysis and disseminates information to remote care teams. Clinicians can use this information, along with other symptoms, to order additional patient evaluation or more specific diagnostics in a timely manner—which may lower the rate of co-morbidities and hospital admissions due to UTIs and improve antibiotic stewardship. Read more.

Source: PRNewswire, May 3, 2017

FDA Approves OTC Availability of PeriCoach, an At-home Pelvic Floor Trainer Device

DENVER – Analytica on Wednesday announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the PeriCoach at-home pelvic floor trainer device and smartphone app as an over-the-counter treatment for mild, moderate and stress urinary incontinence and urge incontinence. Pelvic floor muscle exercise is recommended as first line non-pharmacologic treatment for the millions of women – estimated at one in three – who suffer from urinary incontinence. Read more.

Source: Drug Store News, July 13, 2016