By spotlighting both the nurses who care for patients with bladder and urology conditions and awareness around the physical and emotional aspects of bladder health, patients and nurses can gain and share information.
Urology nurses treat patients who can have conditions as varied as kidney failure, bladder cancer, incontinence, vasectomies, and kidney stones. Urology nurses treat adults and children and can specialize in one area. Nurses in this specialty are also able to find a career path that matches their working style–whether that is a steady schedule in a physician’s office, a varied home care schedule, a trauma unit, or a surgical center.
By using information to spread awareness and promoting the importance of bladder health, the Urology Care Foundation highlights Bladder Health Awareness Month. Nurses and patients will find resources to help with different health concerns. The organization is highlighting different conditions each week of November including interstitial cystitis, neurogenic bladder, and bladder infection/urinary tract infection; bladder cancer; incontinence, overactive bladder, and stress urinary incontinence; and bedwetting, nocturia, bladder exstrophy and other bladder conditions and diseases.
Access to information that’s accurate and up to date is essential for many reasons including ensuring patients are receiving the best treatment and care possible. But this access also helps patients normalize urology-associated problems and conditions. Frequently, patients are reluctant to talk about issues like incontinence. The more they can understand that bladder health issues can be managed with treatment from medication and lifestyle modifications, they will have a better quality of life.
Nurses in this specialty have several resources to increase their knowledge, gain connections, share information, and strengthen their leadership practice. The Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates (SUNA) is the professional organization for urology nurses and established Urology Nurses and Associates Week. SUNA holds an annual conference and works tirelessly on advocacy for urology nurses. Their efforts help ensure that urology patients get the best care possible and that nurses achieve excellence in their profession.
Nurses who work in pediatrics can find resources and a network through the Pediatric Urology Nurses and Specialists. In addition to an annual conference, this organization offers resources for nurses through webinars, pediatric-focused resources, and even special interest groups in biofeedback, research, education, and urodynamics.
After working in the field and establishing a solid foundation as a nurse and a desire to achieve expert status, nurses can work on one of three certifications through the Certification Board for Urologic Nurses and Associates. Depending on their specialty and career path, nurses may choose from three certification options: CURN® – Certified Urologic Registered Nurse, CUNP® – Certified Urologic Nurse Practitioner, or CUA – Certified Urologic Associate.
Nurses and patients can work together for the best possible urology-related outcomes.
According to the American Medical Association, urology covers conditions of the urinary tract, the reproductive tract of males, urinary tract infections, cancer, incontinence, reconstructive urology, urogynecology, stones in the urinary tract, and some aspects of male and female infertility.
Urology nurses may treat adult or pediatric cases and may see cases from the routine to the exceedingly complex. They are called on to help men and women who present with sexual dysfunction or to help those with congenital conditions. They may assist with surgical procedures or with continual care of chronic conditions.
As a urology nurse, education is an important job responsibility. Nurses are a patient’s first resource for managing, coping with, and treating a condition. Patients turn to nurses to find out how to prevent a urinary tract infection, how to manage a catheter, or what kind of recovery they face after urologic surgery.
Within this role of educator, nurses can help patients manage expectation of healing, understand any prescriptions, or activity restrictions, and understand what is happening to their bodies. Urology nurses can help patients’ families learn how to help with the care and healing process as well. Minority nurses in the field are especially important as the more they understand the culture of a patient, including dietary traditions, the better they can help them heal.
Urology nurses are also the best ambassadors for this area of nursing. The Urology Nurses and Associates Week is a good time to celebrate with colleagues, and it’s also an opportunity to learn more and help educate others about what you do. You can send a photo of your team to the local paper with a short explanation of your success or how you care for people.
You can also take your voice public. Think of ways you can work in your community or on a wider platform to promote better policies to protect nurses and patients. Become a member of a professional nursing organization in your specialty, like SUNA, and volunteer your time to make an impact in whatever way you can.
Any nurse is committed to lifelong learning, so seek out ways to learn more. Become certified in urology nursing if you have not already. Take courses or sign up for webinars with your healthcare organization to refresh your knowledge on any area of nursing. Decide to become the go-to person in your unit on treating a specific condition and learn all you can to make that a reality. Take on leadership roles within your local nursing association chapter so you can develop agendas that keep urology nursing at the forefront of healthcare priorities.
And be sure to take a moment and think of how your hard work changes the lives of the patients in your care. Urologic issues often hold a certain level of embarrassment for some patients, so the compassionate and empathetic care urology nurses give is meaningful and will be remembered.
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