Changing Urostomy Pouches
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Your urostomy pouch will need to be drained several times a day. To drain your pouch either sit on, kneel or stand beside the toilet. Unfasten the bottom of your pouch and empty the contents into the toilet.
For a one-piece pouch, you will usually replace the entire pouch every other day. With a two-piece urostomy pouch, you usually replace the baseplate (flange) once or twice a week.
A urostomy functions continuously, which means it’s extremely important to make sure you have everything immediately to hand when you want to change your pouch and to act as quickly as you can.
Changing your urostomy bag
- Make sure you have everything you need immediately to hand.
- Empty the pouch as described above.
- Wash your hands. If you are not near running water, you can use an antibacterial hand cleanser.
- Supporting the skin with one hand, gently and slowly ease the pouch off. You can use an adhesive remover to help remove the flange easily and gently.
- Place the used pouch with any wipes etc into a plastic disposal bag (A home delivery service like SecuriCare will send these disposal bags free with your supplies). Alternatively wrap it in a newspaper and put it in an ordinary biodegradable plastic bag into the domestic refuse.
- When you are ready, put your disposal bag into the domestic refuse.
Cleaning the stoma area
- Use plain warm water and a dry wipe to gently clean around the stoma. Make sure you don’t rub.
- Dry thoroughly with a dry wipe. Pat gently taking care not to rub.
- Place used wipes in the disposal bag with the used pouch.
- Wash your hands.
Applying the next urostomy bag
- You might like to use a skin barrier to protect your skin, and provide an ideal base for the adhesion of the next urostomy bag. Simply wipe around the stoma area and leave to dry for a few seconds.
- You may need to cut a hole in your stoma pouch flange to the correct size. Alternatively, SecuriCare can cut your pouches to fit your individual stoma, so you don't have to worry about this.
- Remove the protective cover from the adhesive flange. Fit the pouch over the stoma and smooth from the centre to the edges, making sure there are no creases which might cause leakage.
- Cover the adhesive with your hands for 30-50 seconds, as the warmth will increase the adhesion to your skin.
